Individuals with mental disorders have a decreased life expectancy of 10–15 years in comparison with the general population [1–4]. Early interventions at the first onset of mental disorders can improve several outcomes [5, 6]. Primary indicated prevention in those at clinical high risk has the potential to alter the course of the disorder and improve outcomes [7–9]. For example, young people with attenuated symptoms for psychosis [10–13] and functional impairments accumulate several risk factors and have a 25% probability of developing the disorder over 3 years [14]. Clinical care for these individuals is typically implemented in specialised clinical services [15–18] and has the potential to delay or impede the transition to psychosis, although the efficacy of preventive interventions awaits more robust evidence [19–21]. Targeted preventive approaches involve screening programmes in asymptomatic individuals who have significant risk factors for certain psychiatric disorders [7, 22, 23] (primary selective prevention [7, 8]) or public health campaigns in the general population (primary universal prevention) [7, 8, 24]. To date, these initiatives have been mostly piloted for young people with emerging severe mental disorders [8]. A further complementary approach is to promote good mental health, as opposed to preventing mental disorders [7, 25, 26].
