Prevention is the best cure – or is it? A cautionary tale
Geertjan Overbeek
Abstract
In large parts of the Western world prevention is considered a necessary, core component of successful youth care practice. Yet, mental health problems in young people do not appear to have declined over the past decades. How to explain this paradox? In this editorial for the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, several possible explanations are explored, one of which centers around how prevention is being operationalized—primarily, nowadays, as a screen-and-resolve ‘troubleshooting’ approach, rather than as an approach that supports the development of good health, competence, and resilience.
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Geertjan Overbeek is a professor of child and adolescent development at the research institute child development and education (RICDE) at the University of Amsterdam, a full profile can be found here.