Minister for Care Services, Department of Health, Phil Hope, said:
"This report confirms just how important it is to tackle mental health problems and promote public mental health and wellbeing. During the last ten years, we've seen major improvements in the mental health services available for people, but now we need to develop a dynamic new approach, which actively helps create more mentally healthy and resilient communities.
We're developing a strategy called New Horizons to be published in summer to do that. This report gives us some valuable ideas on how to get there."
Nicky Lidbetter, Chief Executive of ANXIETY UK, said:
"This report illustrates, more than ever before, the need for good quality support for people struggling with anxiety. At Anxiety UK, we have experienced an unprecedented number of enquiries since the beginning of the year from people seeking help, largely due to the economic crisis and its knock on effects on people's mental health.
We offer advice, a peer support network and therapies at a reduced cost to people across the UK both over the telephone and face-to-face."
“Intense emotional stress has long been associated with triggering heart attacks in people who already have coronary heart disease. The British Heart Foundation is currently funding research to further understand the mechanisms of how this may happen. Feeling very stressed often leads to unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, eating a poor diet, drinking too much alcohol and not getting enough exercise – adding to the risk of developing heart problems.
Identifying the circumstances that lead people to adopting unhealthy lifestyles and choosing options such as physical activity to help relieve stress can reduce the risk of developing heart disease.”
Paul Corry, Director of Public Affairs at Rethink said:
“Fear is one of the drivers for a number of mental illnesses. People who already have a diagnosed mental illness often find that fearful times and events have a serious effect on their symptoms and daily lives.
We welcome the need to take a public mental health approach to tackling fear and anxiety. A well-thought out strategy for promoting everyone’s mental health is long overdue, and it must include those with severe and enduring mental illness.”
"This report highlights fear and anxiety as increasing problems and describes possible causes. Whilst there have been campaigns to increase public and health professional awareness about depresion, much less has been done to raise awareness of anxiety.
For the public, awareness that anxiety is a problem for which help can be sought and for professionals, there are limited resources to support people with anxiety.
RCGP is supportive of a campaign that shows individuals how to look after their own mental health and dealing with fear and anxiety that may be experienced in the course of day-to-day living.
Such as campaign might logically focus on vulnearble groups, such as older poeple, people living alone, people with chronic physical problems, and people who have job uncertainty or who are unemployed, for example.
Such a campaign would be of immense public benefit, and help prevent common mental health problems like anxiety and depression.
The campaign needs to be accompanied by the development of community and health service resources to meet the needs of those people who seek help for these problems."
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