MENTAL HEALTH

THE FACTS

Prevalence

450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem – more than 1 in every 16.1

5 to 10% of the population suffer from clinical depression at any given time.2

...of all mental disorders begin before... 50%... 75%...

...age 14 ...age 253

Globally, 20% of children and adolescents have mental disorders or problems.3

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and will be the single biggest medical burden on healthcare by 2020.3

In Britain4

1 in 4 adults have a diagnosable mental health problem in any one year. 50% of people with common mental health problems are no longer affected after 18 months.

In Australia5

45% of adults will experience a mental illness at some stage of their lives.

Employment26

hire someone with... 40%... 62%...

...of British employers would

...a mental health condition ...a physical condition

Provision

Spending on mental health per person per year6

$1.63Globally

$0.20 In low-income countries

$44.84 In high-income countries

Professional help is extremely scarce in low-income countries. 1 psychiatrist for every 2 million people 1 psychiatric nurse for every 233,000. In rich countries 170 psychiatrists for every 2 million people 70 psychiatiric nurses for every 233,000.3

In India 1 health-service bed per 40,000 people. 3 psychiatrists per 1,000,000 people.7

Even in a wealthy country like Canada only

¹ �3

of those needing mental health services actually receive them.9

$2 /person/yearTheamountof money required to increase mental health services in low-income countries to a WHO-accepted standard.3

59% of the global population lives in a country which has dedicated mental health legislation.6

In Ghana 2% of the population has access to treatment.8

1 Mental Health Foundation quoting the World Health Organization (2001). 2 World Health Organization, Conquering Depression, 2001: nin.tl/w4YQT4 3 World Health Organization mental health fact file: nin.tl/ABe5Lo 4 Mental Health Foundation ‘Mental Health Statistics’: nin.tl/zr8GNV 5 Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Australians, Canberra, 2008. 6 World Health Organization, Mental Health Atlas, 2011: nin.tl/y1c5d0 7 Ankur Barua, ‘Need for a realistic mental health programme in India’, Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, Vol 31, No 1, 2009. 8 Mental Health Society of Ghana mehsog.org 9 Statistics Canada, ‘Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being’, 2003. 10 Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, Penguin, 2010. 11 Department of Health, The National Service Framework For Mental Health, 2004. 12 Social Exclusion Unit, 2004. 13 Robin Jacoby and Catherine Oppenheimer (eds), Psychiatry in the Elderly, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002. 14 Campaign to End Loneliness nin.tl/wBnhhq 15 J Lindert et al, ‘Depression and anxiety in labour migrants and

18 ● N ew Inte rnati onalist ● MAY 2 012 Disadvanta g e, discrimination and disaster

Inequality, social exclusion and extreme stress take their toll on mental health.

8% to 26% – percentage of people with mental illness in different countries. This scale directly correlates to how equal societies in those countries are.

In the US, where there is high inequality, over 50% of the population will experience mental illness over their lifetime.10

Among British prisoners:

● the suicide rate is 15 times higher than in the general population.11

● male prisoners are 14 times more likely to have 2 or more mental disorders than men in general; women prisoners are 35 times more likely.12

● 70% have 2 or more mental health disorders.12

Depression affects 1 in 5 older people living in the community; 2 in 5 living in care homes.13 Loneliness in old age is a higher health risk than life-time smoking.14

In Britain, the rate of common mental disorders among refugees stands at 40%; in economic migrants 21%.15

First- and second-generation migrants are up to 8 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than a white British person.16

In the Netherlands, Surinamese migrants are 4 times more likely to develop schizophrenia than the Dutch-born population.17

Rates of mental disorders double after emergencies like war and natural disasters.3

Since the financial crisis, suicide attempts have risen sharply in European countries. Greece is hardest hit, with the suicide rate up by 40% in the first five months of 2011.18

Suicide

90% of those who die by suicide in Western countries have a mental disorder. The proportion is smaller in Asian countries.19

Bitter p il ls

1 in 10 people with schizophrenia die by suicide.

$82 billion worldwidesalesofdrugs for mental health purposes.24

Their profitability has led to large-scale unethical promotion of drugs. Powerful anti-psychotic drugs are often dangerously promoted.

1 in 5 people with bipolar disorder die by suicide.20

11 times higher – the rate of suicide of Inuit youth in Canada compared to the national average.21

3 times higher – the rate of Australian Aboriginal male suicide compared to non-indigenous men.22

Dan g erousness23

In a 2006 survey, the most common media stories about mental health concerned homicide and crime. But...

95% of homicides are committed by people not diagnosed with a mental health problem.

1 in4 people with a severe mental illness had been a victim of crime in one year, according to a 2005 study.

People with psychosis are

14 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators.

AstraZeneca received a $520-million penalty in 2010 for illegal promotion of antipsychotics to children and the elderly. This is just 2.4% of the $21.6 billion made by the company on sales of Seroquel from 1997 to 2009.25

FINED $520,000,000

In 2009

Eli Lilly paid a $515-million criminal fine related to its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa.

FINED $515,000,000

Pfizer paid $301 million in relation to its antipsychotic Geodon.25

FINED $301,000,000

refugees: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Social Science and Medicine 69, 2009. 16 JW Coid et al, ‘Raised incidence rates of all psychoses among migrant groups’, Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol 65, No 11, 2008. 17 J-P Selten et al, ‘Odegaard’s selection hypothesis revisited: schizophrenia in Surinamese immigrants to the Netherlands’, American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 159, No 4, 2002. 18 Stella Tsolakidou, ‘Greece Records Largest Increase in Suicide Rates’, Greek Reporter, 22 September 2011: nin.tl/AbTKU0 19 International Association for Suicide Prevention 2006, Co-sponsored by the World Health Organization, World Suicide Prevention Day. 20 ICCD iccd.org/keyfacts.html 21 Health Canada: nin.tl/z1MWo4 22 Creative Spirits: nin.tl/FOaybw 23 Mind, ‘Dangerousness and mental health: the facts’, updated January 2010: nin.tl/wNO3lB 24 Ray Williams, ‘How the drug companies are controlling our lives’, Psychology Today, 13 May 2011: nin.tl/A6oJlw 25 Duff Wilson, ‘Side Effects May Include Lawsuits’, The New York Times, 2 October 2010. 26 Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action, 2009.

N ew I n t e r nat i o nal i s t ● MAY 2 012 ● 19