Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences on mental health and current policy responses to psycho-social problems. The series was supported by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation.