Mental health is a vote winning issue

At election time, everyone makes demands on politicians to ensure that their wishes are considered.

As a constituent, I want a candidate who addresses the issues that affect me, my family, my friends and my community.

One of the most fundamental of these issues is mental health. I’m a psychiatrist, so you would expect me to say that - but if you look at the evidence locally, you can see this is the case.

Health is the most important asset people possess, and there is no health without mental health. It is everyone's responsibility to ensure that people remain healthy and are productive members of our society.  

We know that 1 in 4 of us will suffer from a mental health problem over our lifetime. This means at least 12 million voters - thousands in each constituency - will have problems with their mental health. In fact, every family in the land will be affected by mental illness.

Mental health problems have an impact across our communities; in families, schools, homes, workplaces and prisons.  In short, mental health is a local issue.

In a survey of MPs by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on mental health, which the College worked on, over 90% of MPs acknowledged that they knew of people in their own circle who had suffered from mental health problems. MPs also recorded that they themselves had suffered from depression and alcohol related problems.

We support candidates who are willing to put mental health high on their agenda. We hope our Four-Step manifesto will empower them to talk about issues related to service delivery, research, early intervention and public mental health.

As president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, I believe it is every psychiatrist's duty to call upon our potential MPs to start talking seriously about mental health.

Prospective MPs will always be keen to address local issues, and none needs championing more than mental health.

Email me and let me know what you think

Dinesh Bhugra

President, Royal College of Psychiatrists