Editorial: Counting the cost: Estimating the burden of child mental health

摘要

The publication of the first report from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study (Murray & Lopez, 1996) radically changed evaluations of the public health significance of mental disorders. Before that time, diseases were typically ranked in terms of their impact on premature mortality. The GBD Study added estimates of impact on disability, and in so doing highlighted the huge public health burden attendant on poor mental health. The latest iteration of the GBD Study (relating mainly to findings for 2010) showed that mental and substance use disorders were the leading cause of all non-fatal burden of disease worldwide, underscoring the major challenge that mental health problems pose for health systems in both developed and developing regions of the world (Murray et al., 2012; Whiteford et al., 2013).