Mental illness prevention

Mental illness prevention includes services that work to prevent the onset of mental disorders, in order to reduce the incidence and prevalence of mental illness in the community. Mental illness prevention activities are directed at reducing known risk factors and/or preventing people that display early signs of mental illness from developing a diagnosable mental illness. These activities can be either population-wide or targeted at vulnerable segments of the community.

In contrast to Mental health promotion, which seeks to enhance the population's mental health, Mental illness prevention aims to prevent the development of mental illness.