Caplan’s public health prevention model including primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention exerted an important influence on the early development of prevention programs. Gordon indicated that most disorders might turn into the more serious psychological crisis without effective treatment. From a developmental perspective, all the treatment would be potentially labeled as prevention. Gordon thus claimed that the tertiary prevention in Caplan’s model, which refers to the rehabilitation of disability for those suffering from disorders, should not be included in the prevention system. Based on the costs and benefits of delivering the intervention to the different targeted populations, Gordon proposed an alternative threefold classification called comprehensive prevention model which included universal prevention, selective prevention and indicated prevention. After that, American Institute of Medicine emphasized the importance of putting prevention into a broader context and depicted a mental health intervention spectrum in which not only the prevention and treatment of disorders but also the maintenance interventions are Included. American National Research Council and Institute of Medicine insisted that the mental health promotion should be recognized as an important component of the mental health intervention spectrum so that it can serve as a foundation for both the prevention and treatment of disorders. Mental health promotion is characterized by focusing on people’s well-being or healthy outcomes rather than the prevention of illnesses and disorders. These outcomes are intrinsically valued in decreasing the incidence of disorders. Mental health promotion attaches importance to enhance individuals’ ability to achieve successes with positive self-identity or high self-esteem and strengthen their ability to cope with various adversities. Most researchers tend to accept the mental health promotion approaches and support a more synthetic prevention model. Although there is a considerable overlap between prevention and promotion, the mental health promotion in the mental health area is consistent with the recognition that health promotion is an important component of public health that goes beyond the prevention of disease. In conclusion, prevention, treatment and promotion are complementary components in a new comprehensive model. The development and renovation of the psychological prevention concept, especially the integration of mental health promotion into the psychological prevention system, suggests us to adopt an overall point of view and improve the pertinence and effectiveness of prevention. We also need to combine the negative mental prevention with the positive mental health promotion together.