Mental Health in South Africa

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Mental illness is very prevalent in South Africa, yet the country lacks many of the necessary resources and policies needed to execute an effective mental health strategy. Many factors including civil strife, communicable disease, and urbanization have increased the prevalence of mental disorders in the country. The way in which these mental disorders are treated has changed over the years. For a while, mental health care was mainly institutionalized. However, in 1997, following the White Paper Act, the South African government made strides to deinstitutionalize mental health care and relegate it to the primary care setting. However, current data indicates that the goal of deinstitutionalization and effective primary mental care has still not been fulfilled.