Abstract
A number of mental illnesses with anxiety and depressive symptoms develop in adolescence. School mental health education may play a significant role in the improvement of mental health, including prevention, early detection and intervention of those mentally disturbed. This paper is intended as an investigation of the school mental health education in UK (England & Wales), where the system of the health education is based on various researches. The UK school health education emphasizes that mental health is as important as physical health. Its content includes explanation of mental illnesses and appropriate solutions that help youth who are suffering from stress and difficulties in mental health. At age of 8–9 years, education about mental health is started. At age of 13–14 years, several mental illnesses are specifically explained in the health education. Symptoms and causes of the mental illnesses with anxiety and depression and way of decision-making for appropriate coping behavior are also explained. The UK school mental health education could be a good reference for the improvement of Japanese school mental health education, which may help prevention and early, better treatment of anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses.
