Self-understanding, envisioning the future, and prevention: An appreciation and a reflection on the occasion of the 100th anniversary.

Abstract

On the 100th birthday of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice, it is appropriate to reflect on the evolution of thought on depression prevention research, as seen through a historical perspective, to note how the field has grown and how it can address the issues of today. This article is a personal reflection on one practitioner’s evolution of thought on resilience and preventive intervention, starting with interviewing civil rights workers, to conceptualizing self-understanding as an essential component of resilience, to the development of a family-based preventive intervention for parental depression, which was disseminated, adapted, and incorporated into a growing body of prevention research. Consensus statements on mental health prevention from the National Academies are reviewed, and the importance of a social justice perspective is highlighted throughout. The article concludes with principles for developing effective preventive interventions to promote mental health today, and in the future.