Mental health need

Mental health need

  • Mental illness is the largest cause of disability amongst working-age adults in England (Kirk-Wade, 2022)
  • In any given week, one in six adults (17%) experiences depression and/or an anxiety, a greater proportion than in the 1990s (NHS Digital, 2014). Using this figure, we estimate that there are around 123,500 working-age adults in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough with a common mental health condition.
  • In 2022/23, 95,137 adults (12% of those registered at general practices) in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were recorded as having depression and 8,695 adults (0.8%) were on the severe mental illness register (NHS Digital, 2023c).

Definitions

Common mental health conditions are defined as depression and anxiety disorders, including generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), phobias, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (NICE, 2011). They are ‘common’ as they impact around one in six adults (over 16s) in any given week (NHS Digital, 2014). Common mental health problems cause distress and interfere with everyday life. The large numbers of people experiencing these conditions at any one time mean that they have a significant cost to society (Public Health England, 2019).

Severe mental illnesses are long-term health conditions that have a substantial impact on multiple aspects of people’s lives (Swinson et al., 2016). This term is commonly used to describe diagnoses of bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders, but can also include conditions such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders when the impact is severe (Swinson et al., 2016). Note that in NHS guidance around physical health checks, severe mental illness (SMI) is defined as a recorded diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia or any long-term psychotic illness (NHS England, 2018). This definition is because of the cardiometabolic risks associated with antipsychotics, rather than implying that other mental health conditions are not ‘serious’ or ‘severe’, or do not have physical health risks (NHS England, 2018).

NICE guidelines

Many of these conditions have specific National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines covering their treatment and management. There are also NICE guidelines on the transition between inpatient mental health settings and community or care home settings.

 

References

Full list of references is included at the end of this chapter.