Most of the treatments for the mental illness including the medicines are temporary and are only partially effective. A variety of effective therapies for reducing the severity and number of patient symptoms are available now. Invention of SSRI’s helped the medical model to reduce the severity of symptoms, even though there are some exceptional cases. Still, mental illness continues to disable individuals, family, societies and countries. Remission of depression symptoms among many patients even after taking SSRI is partial or short lived. Huge investments in the area of the study of etiology and treatment of mental disorders have not reduced the inflow of patients. One-third of the patients are identified to have very low response to the drug treatment. Period of remission from most therapies is brief. 60% to 70% of patients with unipolar major depression relapse within 6 months of symptom remission.
Mental illness reduces productivity and costs billions of dollars each year due to lost wages, medical costs and disability claims. Hence, while continuing the treatments for those who have broken down, another focus has to be given to the prevention of breaking down. Attention has to be made in the direction towards mental health promotion, as an aim itself. The challenges that lie ahead are
a) Reducing the prevalence of mental illness
b) Preventing the early onset in young adults lives
c) Prolong remissions following the therapies
d) Reducing the recurrence of mental illness, throughout the life course
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