"Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." (From a World Health Organisation http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/)

I'll keep this short because I'm less prepared than I meant to be; was gunna type something up in advance but I've been struck by a mixture of forgetting and the date sneaking up on me .

Hundreds of millions of people across the world suffer from mental disorders, and such disorders are only the most prominent aspect of mental ill-health; just as physical health issues range from things as commonplace as colds up to as life-destroying as cancer, mental health is about more than dealing with crippling illnesses such as panic disorder or anorexia and is as relevant to everyone as physical health is.

The tenth of October is World Mental Health Day, and in some countries the start of a mental health week. It is an opportunity to raise awareness, yada yada. That's about the point your eyes start glazing over, no?

It is easy to focus on how much damage mental illness can do -just as it is easy to focus on a wrecking ball doing its work- but I would like us to take the opportunity to share positive stories, of recovery, of success despite burdens, of lives restored. So if you have such a tale, it would be grouse if you'd share it .

Although one of the objectives of this thread is to encourage people to get help, I would like to make it clear that it is not intended as a place to seek said help, as that would massively blow out the scope and be inappropriate given the nature of this forum (i.e. it is full of gamers, not professionals with qualifications you can check). After I've had some sleep (it's 01:00 here ) I'll dig out some links to act as starting points for a few parts of the world, and will edit in more if people post any. I encourage you to make use of them (when I put them up) or talk to your GP (general practitioner) if you think you may have a problem .