Over at Wales Online, Lib Dem Welsh assembly member Peter Black, the party’s health spokesman, explains why an holistic approach to health-care is so vital. Here’s an excerpt:
Mental health and wellbeing services have historically been under-resourced in Wales and throughout the UK. Such a position is surprising given the incidence of debilitating mental health problems among the population. The figures are striking – one in four of us will suffer from a mental illness at some point in our lives, and one in seven will suffer to a sufficient degree to warrant therapeutic intervention at some level.
The incidence of that all-pervasive but ill-defined condition “stress” is on the increase both for those in work and the increasing number of us without it. We can speculate long and hard as to why this is – the pace of modern life, the sense of being at the mercy of forces that one cannot easily control if at all, the loosening of community ties, all these and more have been cited.
The trick is not to merely speculate but to help and, more particularly, to enable those with mental health problems to view their lives positively and live them in an active and dynamic manner. That is why I find myself drawn to the concept of recovery in mental health and wellbeing. It is an optimistic idea that frees the individual from passive acceptance of their condition and an over-reliance on the professionals.
You can read the article in full here.
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