FUNDAMENTAL FACTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH 2016

Foreword
This year’s Fundamental Facts follows the recent publication
of the 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS). This
highlights that, every week, one in six adults experiences
symptoms of a common mental health problem, such as
anxiety or depression, and one in five adults has considered
taking their own life in the last year. Nearly half of adults
believe that, in their lifetime, they have had a diagnosable
mental health problem, yet only a third have received a
diagnosis. The APMS brings to the fore the widening gap
between the mental health of young women and young men.
Women between the ages of 16 and 24 are almost three
times as likely (at 26%) to experience a common mental
health problem as their male contemporaries (9%) and
have higher rates of self-harm, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic
stress disorder. This is clearly an issue that needs
a deeper look and a strategy for addressing the factors that
are causing it.
Another group at particular risk includes people in mid-life,
with a noticeable increase in the prevalence of common
mental health problems for both men and women between
the ages of 55 and 64.
There are some very worrying levels of poor mental
health among people receiving Employment and Support
Allowance. Two thirds report common mental health
problems and the same percentage report suicidal thoughts,
with 43.2% having made a suicide attempt and one third
(33.5%) self-harming, indicating that this is a population in
great need of targeted support.
Despite an increase in people accessing treatment, around a
third of all people with a mental health problem have sought
no professional help at all.
At the centre of the Mental Health Foundation’s research
and programme work is the belief that many mental health
problems are preventable. There is far more scope for
interventions that reduce the incidence of people developing
mental health problems and also support recovery. There are
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