Introduction to the Research Handbook on Mental Health Policy

In addition to providing background and context for the handbook, this chapter identifies its aims and essential concepts. The handbook addresses the lack of fit between the needs for better information on existing mental health policies and systems and the opportunities and limitations inherent in the existing body of mental health research. The global mental health context and the history of efforts to advance recovery from mental illness and to develop integrated care systems are examined as a prelude to a discussion of the range of mental health problems that policy makers are mandated to address. Key considerations in the development of policy responses are considered, especially as they are situated on a matrix of five interlocking policy conundra, each of which requires the discovery an optimal balance between seemingly opposing positions that are all interlinked. The chapter then turns to a discussion of the criteria typically used in policy development and evaluation, as well as the various decision-making strategies that are used to resolve such conundra, including the implementation of evidence-based policy and practice. The chapter concludes with a preview of the handbook