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Gro Harlem Brundtland, MD, MPH
Director-General
World Health Organization

JAMA. 2001;286:2391.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

As I write these words in mid October I reflect on the way in which we have, during the past 4 weeks, expressed our shared grief in understanding, sympathy, and support for those affected by posttraumatic stress. We are reminded of the extraordinary ability of humans to cope with extremes of emotion, to help each other, and to handle fear, pain, and loss. We work together to preserve our mental health. We see nothing wrong, or mysterious, in our coping mechanisms. But we do not expect people to have to cope alone, in isolation. We understand the need for help and guidance.

As health care professionals, we know that mental illness is not a personal failure. If there is failure, it is in the way society in general and the health sector in particular have responded to people with mental and neurological disorders.

By separating . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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