Maudsley International was set up to help improve people's mental health and well-being around the world. A variety of programmes have been developed by Maudsley International over the past 10 years, for planning and implementing services; building capacity; and training and evaluation to support organisations and individuals, professionals and managers to train and develop health and social care provisions. Maudsley International's model is based on collaboration, sharing expertise and cultural understanding with international partners.

Public mental health involves a population approach to mental health, and includes treatment of mental disorder, prevention of associated impacts, prevention of mental disorder and promotion of mental well-being, including for those people recovering from mental disorder. Such interventions can result in a broad range of impacts and associated economic savings even in the short term. However, even in high-income countries only a minority of people with mental disorder receive any treatment, while provision is far less in low- and middle-income countries. Coverage of interventions to prevent mental disorder and promote mental well-being is far less even in high-income countries, despite such interventions being required for sustainable reduction in the burden of mental disorder. This implementation gap results in a broad set of impacts and associated economic costs. Mental health needs assessments represent an important framework and mechanism to address this implementation gap – in low- and middle-income as well as high-income countries. Training and support to perform mental health needs assessments is important, as is the use of information derived from such assessments to more effectively advocate for the required level of resources to address the implementation gap. Such a public health approach to mental health represents an opportunity for psychiatrists to advocate more effectively for resources at both the local and national level. This can improve the coverage and outcomes of a range of public mental health interventions that result in broad impacts and associated economic savings, which can be estimated.

As of 2015, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations has a new roadmap for development that will guide global and national agendas for the next 15 years. Mental health was explicitly included in the SDGs, for the first time being recognised as an essential component of development. This is a major achievement that has taken decades of unrelenting advocacy. Still, mental health lacks clear, measurable indicators within the SDGs, threatening its progress in the realm of global development. The task now is for the global mental health community to actively work within health systems, and with other sectors, to integrate mental health interventions and indicators into programmes aimed at other goals and targets. In this way, the direct impact of mental health on development and the impact of mental health on other development goals will be recognised and quantified.

France is known as one of the countries where psychoanalysis still holds an important position in various fields, and specially in psychiatry. Is it a ‘culture bound syndrome' of French society, or, more seriously, a particularity that could be useful in other contexts as well? Through consideration of the role psychoanalysis is playing in French psychiatry, this paper will try to review this particularity and its interactions with the organisation and values of psychiatry in France, both in the public services and in private practice.

The APEC Mental Health Roadmap has a vision to strengthen mental health and reduce the economic impact of mental illness in the Asia Pacific. To facilitate its implementation, the APEC Digital Hub will heighten exchange and dissemination of best practices in Asia Pacific mental health partnerships, and increase multi-sectoral recognition to invest in mental health to support economic growth.

Owing to the relatively small population sizes and remoteness of the Small Island Development States (SIDS), their mental health systems face many common difficulties. These include having few mental health specialists per country, limited access to mental health services and low awareness. To overcome these limitations, the World Health Organization (WHO) Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), which aims to decrease the treatment gap by training non-specialists, was implemented in more than 20 Pacific and English-speaking Caribbean countries. Many lessons were learnt from the experience. Mental health specialist support is crucial, and online training and supervision could be a solution. mhGAP training proved to be effective to improve knowledge and attitude, but close monitoring and supervision are needed to change clinical practice. Awareness raising and mental health service capacity building need to occur simultaneously. To realise sustainable development goals, countries need to invest more in mental health, especially in human resources; mhGAP will be one effective solution.

This paper summarises the core scientific claims of psychoanalysis and rebuts the prejudice that it is not ‘evidence-based’. I address the following questions. (A) How does the emotional mind work, in health and disease? (B) Therefore, what does psychoanalytic treatment aim to achieve? (C) How effective is it?

This article discusses the factors that have shaped the development of the new mental health legislation within the Falkland Islands. The process of implementing new legislation within this remote island community is discussed, including the aspirations underlying the new legislation, the management of psychiatric emergencies and the needs of the clinical team.

Evidence-based practice (EBP), which is commonly implemented in high-income countries (HICs), integrates the best research evidence, clinical expertise and patient preferences in the planning and provision of healthcare for both physical and mental health conditions. Although the same principles of EBP apply in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), research into and implementation of such interventions in these countries remains significantly behind compared with HICs. This article presents a brief overview of the global mental health agenda and initiatives aiming to address this pressing gap through the promotion of research and scaling up services, identification of barriers to developing and implementing EBP in LMICs, and possible solutions to overcome them.

This brief report examines the extent to which community-based treatment and integration support are provided for people living with mental illness across 15 selected Asia-Pacific economies. Some of the key findings are discussed in light of the diversity of economies and cultural contexts.

Not for the first time in recent history, the people of Haiti have been obliged to fall back on their resilience strategies in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Following the powerful earthquake that struck the country on 12 January 2010, the entire population had to find the resources to survive in the face of extensive material damage and loss of life: over 222 000 dead, more than 300 000 injured and between 4000 and 7000 amputees (UNDP, 2010).

Over the past few decades, the emergence of evidence-based practice medicine (EBP) has allowed a change in the integration of knowledge with policy making and health service development, and Chile has been influenced by EBP with no exemption. In this paper, we will describe the impact of the EBP model at different levels of the Chilean health system, including the development of national clinical guidelines, medical training and in-patient involvement in health awareness.

This article summarises the current position of evidence-based psychodynamic psychotherapies aimed at the treatment of borderline personality disorder – mentalisation-based treatment and transference-focused psychotherapy – noting the main challenges they face, especially in the area of dissemination.

The Shetland Isles are a place of breathtaking landscapes and pristine wildlife. As harsh as the weather can be, so warm and welcoming are the people and their proud half-Scottish, half-Scandinavian culture. Practising psychiatry in this northernmost outpost of the UK involves significant challenges. The authors were the only two psychiatrists based on this remote island group, which is home to 23 000 people.