[user104658]

Who wrote this? Because in the mental health profession there is a very clear and well understood distinction between a mental health problem, and a normal psychological response to an acute life event (e.g. death, divorce, financial destitution).

If the author thinks that mental health professionals think that any negative emotion = mental health problems ... they simply have the wrong end of the stick.

Now I would say, GP's have a bit of a habit of over-prescribing things like antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications at inappropriate times. Someone whose partner has died a month previously does not need medication. Someone whose partner died 2 years ago and they are still not functioning day to day, might.

Someone who has just been fired and is in a panic about paying the mortgage doesn't need anti-anxiety meds. Someone who wakes up every day with obsessive negative thoughts despite there being no actual adverse event currently happening might.

Here's the important part to remember though; GPS are NOT mental health professionals. I personally have major reservations about GPS being able to hand out SSRI or benzo prescriptions to people who have not been assessed by a mental health team.

The distinction is all built into proper mental health assessment so that's not where the confusion lies.

Another important note is that "mental health awareness" for example in the workplace is not about thinking that anyone who is stressed or under pressure and struggling suddenly HAS mental health problems. It's about an awareness that a refusal to find ways to ease that pressure when people first mention that it's becoming unmanageable can eventually lead TO a more chronic health problem in the long run.