The wooing of primary prevention.

The metaphor of the paper's title offers a framework for a brief summary. Effective wooing of primary prevention requires that we take seriously and adhere to, its clear, sensible defining guidelines; systematize, and further develop, its generative base; use that base to guide the formulation of new primary prevention programs; further develop frameworks to promote informed choices of program directions from among many attractive possibilities; and be more hard-nosed as program evaluators. That type of courtship should improve our love life with--and perhaps even, science of--primary prevention in mental health.