title: Prevention: a word whose time has come.
abstract: Prevention is a cherished mental health concept, increasingly honored more in word than deed. It is suggested that secondary and tertiary prevention constitute contradictions in terms and that--while the services they embody may be vital--they are not prevention.
mesh_terms: D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008019:Life Style; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*