Most people with mental illness in Britain ‘not getting treatment’

Three-quarters of people suffering from mental illness are not getting treatment, experts have warned.

The authors of a damning report say that the lack of treatment for people suffering from mental illnesses is the most “glaring case of health inequality” in Britain.

They say that mental illness now accounts for nearly half of all ill health suffered by people in Britain – and it can be more debilitating than some chronic diseases – but only a quarter of those involved are receiving treatment.

Effective psychological therapies exist but are not widely available, the report by the Mental Health Policy Group from the London School of Economics (LSE) found.

Two-fifths of patients suffering from anxiety or depression can recover if they are treated by means such as cognitive behavioural therapy, and treatment would cost the NHS little or nothing because it would produce savings in other healthcare areas.

Mental illness can manifest itself in physical symptoms and the group of experts estimate such symptoms cost the NHS at least £10 billion. Much of this money would be better spent on psychological therapies, they claim.

“The under-treatment of people with crippling mental illness is the most glaring cause of health inequality in our country,” they write.

One third of families have a member who is currently suffering from a mental illness, they say. It accounts for nearly half of absenteeism at work and mental illness accounts for nearly half of people on incapacity benefits.

The authors, who include doctors, psychologists, NHS managers and economists, recommend better training of GPs and suggest that recruitment into psychiatry should be increased.

They also call for an “imperative” upgrade of specialist help to provide children with affective therapies, as there are 700,000 children in Britain with behavioural problems, anxiety or depression.

Professor Lord Layard of the LSE Centre for Economic Performance said: “If local NHS commissioners want to improve their budgets, they should all be expanding their provision of psychological therapy.

“It will save them so much on their physical healthcare budgets that the net cost will be little or nothing.

“Mental health is so central to the health of individuals and of society that it needs its own cabinet minister.”

Mental health charities welcomed the report. Chief executive of Sane, Marjorie Wallace, said: “We are at an all-time low in the response of mental health services to people with severely disabling mental illness.”

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Dr Andrew McCulloch added: “We have to tackle a situation where only 25 per cent of people with common forms of mental illness are receiving treatment and where there is massive under- investment in research.”