Health Communication: Noise in the Channel(s)*

"Despite overwhelming evidence that illnesses come in clusters with 

mental and physical 

components, we continue to present public health as a series of separate issues - 

"stop smoking", "lose weight", "drink less". 

This is confusing, disempowering and psychologically naive. 

The public has no idea what to prioritise and is prone to either write 

off illness as inevitable, or to feel inadequate and anxious, 

leading to further unhealthy behaviour.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

People see mental illness as mysterious and frightening and ...	... physical illness as explicable and fixable.

Neither view encourages healthy lifestyles."

*still.
 
McCullough, A. (2009) Healthiness is all in the mind, Health Service Journal, 5 February, 119(6142):18.

[Also inc. "Planned investment in mental health promotion in adult mental health services in England in 2007-08 was £4m out of the total mental health spend of 4.5bn - less than 0.1 per cent." ]