The goal of surveillance is to support planning, information sharing, and prevention. It is based on the repeated collection of data through epidemiological surveys and on the monitoring of data from medical and administrative databases. This article provides an overview of mental health surveillance in France and examines the relevance and limitations of the data collected. In the general population, the prevalence of major depressive episodes (MDE) has been explored in seven surveys, including the Health Barometers, which allow for monitoring at five-year intervals. Mortality and hospitalization data enable the surveillance of suicides and suicide attempts (SA). Health insurance databases provide information on the use of psychotropic medications and long-term care designations for severe psychiatric conditions (ALD23). The one-year prevalence of CDE remained stable at 7.8% between 2005 and 2010. Mortality data show a suicide rate of 16 per 100,000 inhabitants. Analysis of hospital data shows that the hospitalization rate for suicide attempts is approximately ten times that of suicide. Data on emergency department visits estimate the number of suicide attempts resulting in emergency department visits at approximately 220,000 annually. Currently, depression is the leading cause of new admissions under the ALD23 program. It is the cross-referencing of complementary data sources that enables the monitoring of mental health in France and the identification of the populations toward which prevention efforts should be prioritized.