That's what the MHA 1983 is all about.
The dual continua model of mental health is little known yet the
movement that brought about this understanding has been going for over a
century. Disorder was the old understanding of mental health and mental
illness.
2009 saw the term "wellbeing" been bandied about. It means as many
different things to different people as the term positive mental health.
Perhaps what I really should say is "The UK needs a Wellbeing Act."
It'd be something like the Human Rights Act in that it would define the
rights of humans ideologically and (sadly) practically.
The US has bits in it's core legislation like "everyone has the right to
the pursuit of their own happiness as long as it doesn't interfere with
the pursuit of another person's happiness". I am unaware of any such
ideal in UK law. In practice I doubt it would make much difference but
that's the same of many laws.
I'm also not sure that the UK in 2010 doesn't have the same ideological
purity in the senior echelons of government that the forefathers of
modern America had after the end of the civil war.
War is one of mankind's (I'm afraid most of the time it's men who start
and end wars....) sickest activities however afterwards - at least WWII
and the American War of Independence - there is a time of positivity and
idealism (in my opinion). After WWII the NHS was created. War is one of
the most effective ways to make the populous realise what is valuable.
The world is thankfully free of the huge military wars of the 20th
century. Nuclear weapons (and other more advanced weapons of mass
destruction) and the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction have
engendered a world peace that may last longer than Pax Romana.
It takes idealism to write a piece of legislation that ensures the
rights that should guaranteed. The Human Rights Act isn't idealistic
enough but it was a significant step forward in progress. It
bootstrapped the countries that uphold into the future of a better
society and civilisation.
Wellbeing and the ideas that came with it at national policy level (e.g.
Lord Layard's stuff on economic theory and happiness) was a step
forward. The utilitarianism and idealism make strange bed fellows,
however there are many odd coalitions going on in the UK at the moment.
Could it be possible to see a Wellbeing Act that enshrines our right to
the pursuit of well being and happiness in the next decade? I hope so,
but in all fairness I think a Mental Ilness and Human Rights Act may be
more important in my opinion. I'm not sure.
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