Clearly, there is an urgent need for development and rigorous evaluation of prevention programs to safeguard against intimate partner violence and its impact on children. Interventions for Stressful Life Events Stressful life events, even for those at the peak of mental health, erode quality of life and place people at risk for symptoms and signs of mental disorders. There is an ever-expanding list of formal and informal interventions to aid individuals coping with adversity. Sources of informal interventions include family and friends, education, community services, self-help groups, social support networks, religious and spiritual endeavors, complementary healers, and physical activities. As valuable as these activities may be for promoting mental health, they have received less research attention than have interventions for mental disorders.
Couples therapy is the umbrella term applied to interventions that aid couples in distress.
The review found that about 65 percent of couples in therapy did improve, whereas 35 percent of control couples also improved. Couples therapy ameliorates relationship distress and appears to alleviate depression. Greater research is needed to overcome gaps in knowledge and to extend findings to a broader array of programs, to diverse populations of couples, and to a wider set of outcomes, including effects on children. Physical activities are a means to enhance somatic health as well as to deal with stress. Aerobic physical activities, such as brisk walking and running, were found to improve mental health for people who report symptoms of anxiety and depression and for those who are diagnosed with some forms of depression.