Reports and publications

View the report (PDF)

Smoking is a leading cause of the 7–25 year reduced life expectancy among people with mental health conditions.

The PMHIC has collaborated with the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to produce a report on the mental health impacts of smoking, highlighting the need for public health action.

This report is a practical document, designed to drive action locally, regionally and nationally across sectors.

It is for people and organisations developing plans and strategies to improve mental and physical health in our communities, particularly those working to implement public mental health approaches to prevent poor mental health in society.

View the full document (PDF)

In the UK, there is little provision of interventions to prevent mental disorder and its associated impacts, or promote mental wellbeing and resilience, despite a strong evidence base.

This report summarises the evidence about public mental health interventions, identifying intervention areas with the strongest evidence base as well as priority areas for future research.

The report includes evidence on public mental health interventions across the following areas: pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence; interventions to reduce mental health inequalities for people in marginalised groups; and interventions to prevent mental disorder and the loss of healthy years and premature death.

• View the briefing paper (PDF, March 2022)
• View the lay summary (short version) of the briefing paper (PDF, May 2022)
• View the Welsh translation of the lay summary (short version) of the briefing paper (PDF, May 2022)

Mental disorders account for at least 18% of global and 21% of UK disease burden. This is due to a combination of high prevalence, early onset during the life course, and a broad range of associated impacts. Effective interventions exist to prevent onset of mental disorders, treat mental disorders, prevent associated impacts, and promote mental wellbeing and resilience.

However, only a minority of people with a mental disorder in the UK receive treatment, and far fewer receive interventions to prevent associated impacts. Furthermore, there is negligible provision of interventions to prevent mental disorders or promote mental wellbeing and resilience. The implementation gap is even greater in low- and middle-income countries and results in population-scale preventable suffering, broad impacts and associated economic costs. The gap breaches the right to health, reflects lack of parity and has further widened with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The implementation gap can be addressed sustainably through a public mental health approach.

The Public Mental Health Implementation Centre (PMHIC) of the Royal College of Psychiatrists was established in 2021 to work in partnership with relevant bodies to support improved implementation of evidence-based public mental health interventions, both nationally and internationally. This will support sustainable and equitable reduction of disease burden from mental disorders and promotion of population mental wellbeing and resilience.

The PMHIC team meets monthly with our experts by experience to shape and advise the ongoing work of the Centre.

A collaboration between RCPsych Wales, the National Collaborative Commissioning Unit (NCCU) and PMHIC to develop a series of reports, including:

• Smoking and mental health 
• Weight management and mental health 
• Physical activity and mental health 
• Substance use and mental health 

The first report is due to be published in May 2024.

1. The first workstream is focussed on ethnic and socio-economic inequalities in perinatal mental health. The research plan is being developed alongside experts by experience and staff from perinatal mental health services.
2. PMHIC is conducting a mapping and scoping project on the implementation of Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. View the full report: Implementing the NIHR Oxford Health BRC’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategy: a mapping and scoping project
3. PMHIC is examining UK data sources to assess ethnic inequalities in psychosis using a syndemic approach. This encompasses the identification of key data sources, summarising their main features, assessing data quality and feasibility of using the data from a syndemic approach, and making recommendations on effective data usage and linkage.

PMHIC hosted a symposium on the Commercial Determinants of Mental Health in collaboration with the Commercial Determinants Research Group (LSHTM) in September 2023.

PMHIC are hosting two Imperial College London Master of Public Health students in summer 2024. Their thesis projects will focus on public mental health interventions to address the commercial determinants of mental health in children and young people.

PMHIC is working with the Faculty of Eating Disorders to develop a position statement on the treatment and prevention of eating disorders.