Abstract
The world today is witnessing an alarming rise of mental health conditions. Depression is cited to be the second leading cause of disability and illness by 2020. Only heart diseases surpassed it, but still it is ahead of all other diseases. Suicide has become the third leading cause of death among adolescents already. Self harm and suicide is claiming more than a million lives annually all over the world. The Philippines is not spared from this burden of mental health conditions. There is also a significant rise in the number of people with mental health conditions. The World Health Organization has named the Philippines as the country with the highest incidence of depression in Southeast Asia in 2011. In 2014, there is a reported 4.5 million cases of depression in the country. The World Health Organization has made calls to all of the governments of its Member States to respond comprehensively to this burden of mental issues. While other countries have formulated comprehensive mental health laws to respond and to address this issue on mental health, the Philippines remains as one of the few countries without any comprehensive mental health legislation. Today, there is still no legal framework to prevent mental health conditions and promote and protect the rights of those with mental disorders. The Philippine Mental Health Act being lobbied in the legislative houses is still not approved. This paper analyzes and examines the need for this Philippine Mental Health Act to be enacted as soon as possible.
Author Information
Louin T. Adayo, De la Salle University, The Philippines
Paper Information
Conference: ACSS2016
Stream: Politics, Public Policy, Law & Criminology
This paper is part of the ACSS2016 Conference Proceedings (View)
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