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This section provides selective facts on mental health. We have arranged the facts by category: Key facts Prevalence of mental health problems Attitudes and public opinion Discrimination Costs and impact Employment Young people Key facts

•	One in four people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year. ¹

•	Around a quarter of all the drugs prescribed by the NHS are for mental health problems.²

•	Prescriptions for anti-depressants in England rose by over 100% between 1990 and 1995. ³

•	85% of the general public think that people with mental ill health have been the subject of discrimination for too long. 90% agree that we need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude towards people with mental ill health. ⁴

•	In 1996, almost half of national press coverage linked mental illness to violence and criminality. ⁵

•	The public are far more at risk from young men under the influence of alcohol than they are from people with a mental health problem.⁶

•	In a survey by Mind, 60% of mental health service users felt that media coverage was to blame for the discrimination they experienced. ⁷

•	In a survey by The Mental Health Foundation, 47% of people with mental health problems said that they had experienced discrimination at work. ⁸

•	Stress-related absences account for half of all sicknesses from work. ⁹

•	Evidence suggests that 1 in 4 people with 'mental illness' have not consulted a professional about their mental health. ¹⁰

Prevalence of mental health problems

•	Official figures suggest that 20% of women and 14% of men in England have some form of 'mental illness'. ¹¹

•	Around one in ten children between the ages of 5 and 15 in the UK are experiencing mental health problems serious enough to require professional help. ¹²

•	By 2020, depression will be second only to chronic heart disease as an international health burden (in terms of cause of death, disability, incapacity to work and the toll on medical resources). ³

•	It's estimated that around one third of all GP consultations are the result of psychological and social problems. ¹⁴

•	Over 4,000 people take their own lives each year – around one person every 90 minutes. ¹⁵

•	Attempted suicide has increased by 50% since 1990. ¹⁵

•	An estimated 10-20% of GPs' time is thought to be taken up with mental health related problems 16– and the figure is thought to be rising.¹⁷


Attitudes and public opinion

•	In a recent MORI survey, 23% of respondents said that, given the necessary resources (time, money or support) mental health was an issue they would like to do more about in 2001. ¹⁸

•	Contrary to public opinion, and despite a lot of sensational media coverage, the proportion of murders committed by people with mental health problems has in fact fallen steadily over the last fifty years. ¹⁹

Discrimination

•	Only about 13% of people with mental health problems are in employment, compared with approximately one third of all people with long-term health problems. ²⁰ In a 1996 survey of people with mental health problems: ⁷

•	34% said they had been dismissed or forced to resign from jobs

•	69% had been put off applying for jobs because of fear of discrimination

•	47% had been abused or harassed in public, and 14% had been physically attacked

•	25% had been turned down by insurance or finance companies

•	45% thought that discrimination had increased in the last 5 years

•	25% said they felt afraid of attack in their own homes

•	21% said they had been attacked or harassed by neighbours

•	26% had been forced to move because of harassment

•	In a recent survey of people with mental health problems, 73% of respondents felt that media coverage of mental health issues over the last three years had been unfair, unbalanced, or very negative. ²¹

•	Asian and African Caribbean people are less likely than people of white origin to have their mental health problems identified by their GP. ²²

•	People with mental health problems have the highest rate of unemployment among people with disabilities. ²³

•	In a 1996 survey of people with mental health problems, 39% said they had been denied a job; 16% had been threatened with dismissal; 15% had been denied promotion. ⁷

•	In a 1998 survey, 99% of mental health workers said that they believed discrimination could have a significant impact on mental health. 60% of them had worked with clients with long-term emotional problems resulting from discrimination ²⁴

Costs and impact

•	The total cost of mental health problems in England has been estimated at £32 billion – half as much again as the entire budget for defence. ²⁵

•	The cost of providing treatment for 'mental illness' is an estimated £4.2 billion – 10% of total NHS expenditure. ²⁵ ----

Employment

•	Work-related stress is the biggest occupational health problem in the UK, after back problems. ²⁶

•	Government figures indicate that 3 in 10 employees will have a mental health problem in any one year, mainly depressive and anxiety disorders. ²³

•	An estimated half a million UK employees believe they are experiencing work- related stress, including anxiety and depression. ²⁶

•	Over 91 million working days are lost due to mental ill health each year. ²⁷

•	In a survey of over 800 companies carried out by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), only I in 10 had an official policy on mental health - even though 98% of respondents thought that the mental health of employees should be a company concern. ²⁸

Young people

•	Suicide is the second most common cause of death among people under 35. ²⁹

•	It's estimated that suicide attempts by young men have risen by over 170% since 1985. ³⁰

•	Suicide accounts for one in five of all deaths by young people. ³¹

•	Between 1st April 1999 and 31st March 2000, calls to the Young Minds Parents' Information Service helpline increased by 56%. ³²

•	Around 19,000 young people are admitted to hospital for deliberate self-harm each year. ³³

References

1 The Mental Health Foundation, data derived from Goldberg, D. & Huxley P. Mental Illness in the Community, 1980. Also Goldberg, D. ‘Filters to Care’ in Indicators for Mental Health in the Population. Jenkins, R. & Griffiths, S. (ed), The Stationery Office, 1991

2 Department of Health, 'Statistics of prescriptions dispensed in FHSAs: England 1985-1995', The Stationery Office 1996

3 Prescriptions Pricing Authority 1998

4 Attitudes to Mental Illness, Summary report 2000, prepared by Taylor Nelson Sofres plc. for the Department of Health. Questions placed on the RSGB Omnibus - asked on annual basis between 1993 and 1997

5 Health Education Authority, Ward, G., Making Headlines1997

6 Mind, Pepper, J. Sayce, L., Strong, S., Willmot, J. & Haines, M., Tall Stories From The Back Yard 1997

7 Mind, Read, J. & Baker, S., Not Just Sticks and Stones, A Survey of the Stigma, Taboos and Discrimination Experienced by People with Mental Health Problems1996

8 The Mental Health Foundation, De Ponte, P., Pull Yourself Together! A survey of the stigma and discrimination faced by people who experience mental distress 2000

9 Centre for the Economics of Mental Health, Mental Health Research Review 5 1998

10 Mann, A. et al, British Psychiatric Morbidity, British Journal of Psychiatry (1998) 173:4-7

11 Department of Health, Health Survey for England 1995: findings. Prescott-Clarke, P. & Primatesta, P. (eds.), 1997, in Department of Health, Our Healthier Nation, The Stationery Office 1998

12 Scott, S., Memorandum submitted to the House of Commons Select Committee. Minutes of Evidence, Thursday 24 October 1996

13 The World Health Organisation, in Hartley, E. ‘High Depression Rate Triggers New Campaign’ in Healthcare Today, May 1998

14 Eastman, C. & McPherson, I., As others see us: general practitioners’ perceptions of psychological problems and the relevance of clinical psychology. British Journal of Clinical Psychology (1982) 21:85-92

15 The Samaritans, Information Resource Pack, 1998; Ray, S., Borton E. & Colyer, L., Listen Up: Responding to People in Crisis, The Samaritans1998

16 Office of Health Economics, Mental Health in the 1990s: From custody to care?, Office of Health Economics, 1989

17 Kendrick, A., Role of GPs in the care of the long term mentally ill, British Medical Journal (1991) 302:508-510

18 MORI, Ethical & Social Attitudes of the British, Research conducted for The Forster Company 2000

19 Taylor, P. & Gunn, J., Institute of Psychiatry Research, quoted in The Guardian , Wednesday 6th January 1999

20 Mind, figures extrapolated from Winter 1997/98 LFS (Great Britain) data

21 Mind, Baker, S. & Macpherson, J., Counting the Cost - Mental Health in the Media 2000

22 Odell, S.M. , Surtees, P.G., Wainwright, N.W., Commander, M. J. & Sashidharan, S.P. Determinants of general practitioner recognition of psychological problems in a multi-ethnic inner-city health district, British Journal of Pyschiatry1997 Dec:171:537-541

23 Office for National Statistics, Surveys of Psychiatric Morbidity in Great Britain, Report 3, Economic activity and social functioning of adults with psychiatric disorders, The Stationery Office, 1995

24 Health Education Authority, Discrimination Hurts, 1998

25 Patel, A. & Knapp, M., The Cost of Mental Health in England, Centre for the Economics of Mental Health, Mental Health Research Review 5, 1998

26 Health & Safety Executive, An Assessment of Employee Assistance & Workplace Counselling Programmes in British Organisations, HSE, 1998

27 Department of Health, Mental Illness: What does it mean?, 1995. Sourced in The Mental Health Foundation, The Fundamental Facts, 1999

28 CBI, cited by Gray, Dr P., in 'Mental Health in the Workplace: Tackling the effects of stress' The Mental Health Foundation 2000. Also in Confederation of British Industry and Department of Health, 'Promoting Mental Health at Work', CBI/DoH 1997

29 Department of Health, 'National Service Frameworks - Modern Standards and Service Models - Mental Health' 1999

30 Young Men Speak Out, Young men's views about depression, suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide, The Samaritans, October 1999

31 Department of Health, Our Healthier Nation: A Contract for Health – A Consultation Paper. The Stationery Office, 1998

32 Young Minds Annual Report 1999/2000

33 Hawton, K., Fagg, J., Simkin, S., Bale, E. & Bond, A., Trends in deliberate self-harm in Oxford, 1985-1995, British Journal of Psychiatry (1997) 171:556-60