[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [WSIS-CT] almost final version 4.3 of WSIS CS statement

[Avri Doria]

Hi,

I admit I am a little confused about this issue and how it is playing  
out.  If I understand it, the objection to including mental health is  
that is prejudices discussions about disability and other other  
health needs.  I must admit that i find this to be, in itself,  
prejudicial.

In this case, to identify the perspective i am taking, it is as a  
person who has studied and received an advanced degree in counseling  
psychology, though i have worked very little in this field, and have  
never completed the internship that would qualify me as an licensed  
therapist.

The principles under which my learning occurred was that mental  
health is something that is indeed distinctive from physical health,  
even though on occasion there may be a physical cause for a mental  
health concern.  The current need remains to bring mental health  
discussions out of the darkness and to make it clear, in a non  
detrimental way that mental health is a huge, mostly unsupported,  
health concern.  Calls to have it excluded from explicit listing of  
health concerns are often based on the assumption that to include  
mental health will prejudice people against the other health issues.   
I do not think we should accept this prejudice but should be out  
front about the importance of mental health on a par with physical  
health.

For this reason I would _not_ support dropping its mention from the  
CS statement.

On 18 dec 2005, at 10.58, Elizabeth Carll, PhD wrote:

>
> The recognition of the importance of addressing mental health needs  
> and
> labeling it using clear language which is tied directly to how  
> governments
> decide on funding is essential.

i agree with this.


> To my knowledge there is no funding for
> access to emotional and spiritual services by governments.   
> Furthermore in
> many cultures spiritual is viewed as,  and often translates into,  
> religious
> terms which brings with it a whole host of problematic and  
> political issues.
>

I was also very concerned about seeing proposed language on spiritual  
health and would prefer to see nothing that tends toward religious  
expression in the statement.

a.