100,000 mental health professionals to receive ‘debt first aid’ advice

Embargoed until Friday, November 21, 2008

In response to the current economic crisis, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has announced it will be sending 100,000 health professionals special guidance on supporting patients with debt and mental health problems.

This announcement comes on the day that Conservative Shadow Secretary of State, Andrew Lansley MP, delivered a speech about the impact of the economic crisis on the mental health of the UK population at the Mental Health Network conference in York.  

Professor Dinesh Bhugra, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said:

“We welcome Mr Lansley's recognition that the economic down-turn will impact on the UK's mental health. All political action at this time is important.”

“Research and clinical experience tells us that the more debts people have, the more likely they are to have a mental health problem. Health and social care professionals are well placed to help their patients during these difficult times.”

“The initiative we are launching today will result in over 100,000 professionals receiving advice on supporting patients with debt and mental health problems. This is an important partnership between the College and the Financial Services Authority (FSA).”

The new guidance, "Final Demand - Debt and Mental Health" will provide essential advice for health workers on dealing with this issue. The booklet has been funded by the FSA. 100,000 copies will be sent to health and social care professionals in the UK in early 2009. It is the product of a collaboration between people with direct experience of mental health problems, the First Step Trust, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

It is not unusual for mental health professionals to encounter patient debt. However, they often feel insufficiently knowledgeable about engaging with such debt, making many reluctant to intervene (Sharpe & Bostock, 2002). The Final Demand booklet doesn't expect health workers to become debt experts, but describes the big differences workers can make by knowing and doing small things.

Mental health problems are common and debt is a serious problem: one-in-six British adults are living with mental health problems, and one-quarter of these will experience debt or arrears (ONS, 2001). This is three times the rate in the wider British population (ONS, 2002). It is equivalent to approximately 1.75 million British adults. The study data found that the more debts people had, the more likely they were to have some form of mental disorder. This relationship held, even after the effect of income and other socio-demographic variables were taken into account. For example, people with two separate debts had an almost three-fold increase in mental disorder, those with three debts a five-fold increase, and those with six or more separate debts had a six-fold increase after adjustment for income (Jenkins et al, 2008). 

The authors of this analysis concluded that although both low income and were associated with mental illness, the effect of income appeared to be mediated largely by debt. The most common arrears among respondents with mental health problems were priority debts such as domestic bills, rent and local authority taxes, although consumer debts were also cited. People with mental health problems were four to five times more likely to have had a domestic utility disconnected than those without such problems – 3% of people without mental health problems, 11% of those with neurotic conditions and 14% of those with psychosis.

Note to editors:

Andrew Lansley MP will be addressing the Mental Health Network Conference in York on Friday 21 November, 2008.