T
he Commission Green Paper “Improving the mental health of the population: Towards a strategy on mental health for the European Union” (2005) highlighted the close interrelation between mental and physical health. However, there is still a lack of awareness on the issue of access to general health care for people with mental disorders.
T
he importance of promoting mental health and well-being in the EU was recently acknowledged also by the European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing, adopted in 2008. The Pact focuses, among others, on the need for preventing depression and suicides; youth and education; workplace settings; older people; and stigma and social exclusion.