Attualità e futuro della salute mentale: la prospettiva della Chiesa italiana per un modello possibile
Actuality and Future of Mental Health: the Perspective of the Italian Church for a Possible Model

Summary/Abstract: The specific perspective from which the Italian Church moves its reflection on mental health germinates and flourishes within the National Office of Health Pastoral Care of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and through the concrete commitment of Caritas. The various themes that will follow have as a common matrix the Conferences of the last fifty years launched by this office, dedicated to the theme “The Italian Church and mental health”. The starting point is that, according to the WHO, the extent of mental suffering is an increasing phenomenon everywhere. An approximate calculation of the incidence of mental distress certifies remarkable figures: about one billion people are currently in a state of mental distress. The National Office for Health Pastoral Care of the CEI in 2017, after years of research and studies, also inaugurated the “National Table on Mental Health” made up of professionals from the world of health, pastoral care and more. The anthropology and the experience of the Church, with regard to the right to health, aims to assume a different and higher vision of rights and teaches that the commitment to promote the life of every man comes before economic and political interests or simply utilitarian that make life “slave”. Starting from the Italian social context, we will try to clarify some fundamental aspects to which the Church is trying to give answers, through pastoral paths that are difficult to implement.

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