Rationale
Aim: To ensure health and social services promote mental health and reduce the discrimination and social exclusion associated with mental health problems.
Standard one
Health and social services should:
- promote mental health for all, working with individuals and communities
- combat discrimination against individuals and groups with mental health problems, and promote their social inclusion.
Rationale
Mental health problems can result from the range of adverse factors associated with social exclusion and can also be a cause of social exclusion. For example:
- unemployed people are twice as likely to have depression as people in work
- children in the poorest households are three times more likely to have mental health problems than children in well off households
- half of all women and a quarter of all men will be affected by depression at some period during their lives
- people who have been abused or been victims of domestic violence have higher rates of mental health problems
- between a quarter and a half of people using night shelters or sleeping rough may have a serious mental disorder, and up to half may be alcohol dependent
- some black and minority ethnic groups are diagnosed as having higher rates of mental disorder than the general population; refugees are especially vulnerable
- there is a high rate of mental disorder in the prison population
- people with drug and alcohol problems have higher rates of other mental health problems
- people with physical illnesses have higher rates of mental health problems.
The World Health Report 1999 [*] (IV) demonstrates that neuropsychiatric conditions are the commonest cause of premature death and years of life lost with a disability -10% of the burden of disease in low and middle income countries and 23% in high income countries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Mental Health Unit of the Regional Office for Europe has prioritised action to reduce stigma, counteract depression and suicide, and to audit mental health services.
Besides the immense costs in personal and family suffering, mental illness costs in the region of £32 billion in England each year. This includes almost £12 billion in lost employment and approaching £8 billion in benefits payments [*]
