Satcher, D. (1999). Executive summary: A report of the surgeon general on mental health. Washington, DC: Department of Health & Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.
The executive summary is an overview of a much more detailed mental-health literature review and resource list prepared under the auspices of the Office of the Surgeon General. It functions as an organizing principle for examination of and reference to reports of statistical and analytical research studies that deal with mental health and mental illness, and it points toward federally funded or sponsored treatment and intervention resources that either are or may become available to the general public and to subpopulations identified as being at risk and/or entitled to government-sponsored mental-health benefits, treatments, and remedies on account of their socioeconomic status.
In the background of the review of research and resources is the principle that mental health is not a stigma of social shame but rather of a piece with general good somatic health, that mental illness has been recognized by clinical and discipline practitioners as a something decidedly treatable and not infrequently curable, and that "a range of treatments exists for most mental disorders" (Satcher, 1999, p. vii). At the same time, the report cites research statistics showing that mental illness is, after cardiovascular illness, the second most prevalent cause of avoidable death (p. ix). Accordingly, the report is meant to be instrumental in the project or encouraging and/or enabling those with mental disorders to seek treatment.
The executive summary indicates the content of each chapter of the more detailed report. After an introductory chapter, the summary cites an overview chapter of mental-health and mental-illness "fundamentals" that summarizes the kinds of scientific r...