Public mental health
To achieve better health and wellbeing for
people in the UK, the Government must have mental health at the
core of any public health policy. Mental ill health is the biggest
single source of burden of disease in England. 20% of the total
burden of disease in the UK was attributable to mental illness
(including suicide), compared with 17.2% for cardiovascular
diseases and 15.5% for cancer.[1] No other condition exceeded 10%,
with 1 in 4 people in the UK likely to experience a mental health
problem at some point in their life. Critically, mental
health is also associated with other priority public health
conditions - poor mental health increases the incidence and worsens
the prognosis of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer
and is associated with a range of risk factors such as smoking,
alcohol misuse and obesity.
Poor mental health is also both a
consequence and a cause of health and
social inequalities over the life course. Mental health
problems are more common in areas of deprivation ibid. Consistent
associations have been found between mental ill health and various
markers of social and economic adversity including low education,
low income; low socioeconomic status; unemployment; and poorer
material circumstances. [2]
Reducing Inequalities
Improving mental health will contribute to
reducing inequalities and to improved physical health, life
expectancy, health behaviours, economic productivity, social
functioning and quality of life. The benefits of improved mental
health are not only multi-dimensional but may also accrue over many
years. Public health promotion, prevention and early intervention
have life time benefits for the child, the child as an adult, and
in turn, that child’s capacity to parent – thereby breaking down
cycles of inequalities that run through generations of
families.
The contribution of high quality, effective
services and interventions to reducing mental health inequalities
is paramount. A population- based public health strategy must not
be at the expense of existing resources in mental health services
which are still underfunded and patchy.
Further
resources
The Government New Horizons
Review - New Horizons: A Shared Vision for
Mental Health
The Marmot Review - Strategic
Review of Health Inequalities: Fair Society, Healthy
Lives
[1] World Health Organisation (2006)
Burden of disease
statistics.
[2] Melzer D, Fryers T, Jenkins R (2004)
Social inequalities and the distribution of the common mental
disorders. Maudsley Monographs 44. Hove: Psychology Press.