Cost-of-living crisis: More than half of Scots have mental health worries about cost of living

More than half of Scots are worried about the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having on their mental health, new figures show, with doctors calling on the SNP leadership candidates to “reverse the freeze on mental health budgets”.

A YouGov poll of more than 1,063 adults in Scotland, commissioned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP), revealed 52 per cent are concerned about the impact. Eight in ten think demand for mental health services will increase in the future, the poll showed.

The survey also showed the issues people are most concerned about impacting on their mental health, with 85 per cent saying rising energy costs, 79 per cent rising food costs and 31 per cent citing increasing debt. Meanwhile, 27 per cent of Scots said they had experienced a new episode of poor mental health over the past year.

Dr Jane Morris, vice-chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said: “These are deeply worrying statistics and encapsulate the feelings of Scottish people about how the current cost-of-living crisis is affecting everyone’s mental health.

More than half of Scots are worried about the effects of the cost of living crisis on their mental health. Joe Giddens/PA Wire

“From relationship breakdowns to worries about crippling debt and wondering how you’ll pay for the next energy bill or feed your children, these situations are tough and can have an enormous effect on anybody’s mental health.

“There is already plenty of evidence that financial stress is associated with worse physical and mental health. The opposite is also true – poor health is likely to lead to impaired financial management. We cannot provide medical solutions to society’s economic problems, but we do need to support people with mental disorders to cope with the extra challenges.

“This is why it’s very important that whoever becomes the new first minister, continues to prioritise mental health and look at reversing the freeze on mental health budgets for 2023/24.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it “fully recognises” the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on mental health. The spokesperson said “those already struggling with poor mental health and money worries are likely to be amongst the hardest hit”.

“That is why the Scottish Government continues to support free debt and welfare advice services, including providing almost £4 million this year to fund the Money Talk service provided by the Citizens Advice network to support people with their finances. In addition the cost of living website (www.gov.scot/costofliving) includes information on help available for households.

“Record numbers of staff are providing more varied mental health support and services to a larger number of people than ever before, including staffing for psychology and children and young people’s services more than doubling since 2007.

“The Scottish Government is also working with Change Mental Health and the Money and Pensions Service to develop a Money and Mental Health Toolkit to help people understand, manage and improve their financial health and mental wellbeing.

“In this financial year the Scottish Government has allocated around £3 billion in a range of measures, which will help mitigate the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on households, of which £1bn is for support only available in Scotland and not elsewhere in the UK.”

The polling comes after an Audit Scotland report last week said the target to recruit an extra 1,000 mental health staff was “at risk” due £35m in cuts from mental health services.