Today, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey has been released, which provides England's national statistics on mental health conditions and treatment access in the population.
The Mental Health Foundation have produced an initial research briefing for the press to aid in reporting of this, which you can find here.
Particularly Notable Findings Include:
- More than one in five people aged 16-64 (22.6%) now have a common mental health condition, a 20% increase since 2014
- One in four young people (25.8%) now have a common mental health condition, a 47% increase since 2007
- Women aged 16-24 are almost three times more likely (36%) to experience a common mental health condition than men the same age (13.5%)
- One in four adults (25.2%) have experienced suicidal thoughts during their lifetime, and around one in twelve adults (7.8%) have attempted suicide during their lifetime
- Those who are in the most deprived groups are 64% more likely to experience a common mental health condition (26.2%) than those in the least deprived groups (16%)
- Adults in problem debt were over three times more likely (21.2%) to report having attempted suicide than those not in problem debt (6.6%)
Commenting on the findings, Dr. David Crepaz-Keay, Head of Applied Research and Learning at the Mental Health Foundation, said:
“These worrying findings clearly demonstrate that England is struggling with growing levels of poor mental health and the legacy of failure of successive governments to tackle the root causes of mental health problems. One in five of us will now experience a common mental health condition in our lifetime. For many of us, this won’t come as a surprise, with a global pandemic and cost of living crisis having dominated the early 2020s, which affected many people’s wellbeing dramatically. Many of the building blocks of life that we rely on to be mentally well – like a good home, a solid income, and a welcoming community – have become more fractured and difficult to access, which has no doubt contributed to the numbers we see today.
“It’s clear that we cannot treat our way out of this crisis. These growing numbers point to a need for more preventative measures at the heart of England’s health policies, to help reverse this trend. The upcoming 10-year plan for the NHS presents an opportunity for the government to set out the role that the health system plays in this, extending its reach into preventative work in communities, and we hope that this opportunity will not be missed. But we also need a cross-government mental health plan, to make sure all parts of government are playing their part in preventing mental health problems – whether that be education, work and pensions, or local councils.”