The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission called for big changes in the treatment of people with mental health problems. It said the province's legislation for detaining people was in 'clear breach' of international human rights standards.
Source: Gavin Davidson, Maura McCallion and Michael Potter, Connecting Mental Health and Human Rights, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (028 9024 3987)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
Two articles criticised the government's proposed reforms of the law relating to mentally disordered and incapacitated patients in England and Wales. One criticised the 'lack of coherence' in the government's proposals to reform the law: the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill attempted to put patient autonomy at the forefront, whereas the Draft Mental Health Bill focused on public protection and risk management, at the expense of the rights and wishes of detained patients - these differences in approach provided clear evidence of the government's 'confused thinking and disjointed approach' to mental health and incapacity reform. The second article argued that the mental health proposals were procedurally strong but substantively weak, while the incapacity reforms were, largely, the reverse - for individuals who might be subject to either legal r gime, the safeguards of one statute might therefore be avoided by resort to the other.
Source: Judith Laing, 'Reforming mental health law and the ECHR: will the rights of mentally vulnerable adults be protected?', Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, Volume 25 Number 4 | Peter Bartlett, 'Adults, mental illness and incapacity: convergence and overlap in legal regulation', Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, Volume 25 Number 4
Links: Laing abstract | Bartlett abstract
Date: 2003-Dec
An article said the total cost of adult depression was over 9 billion, of which 370 million represented direct treatment costs. There were 109.7 million working days lost and 2,615 deaths due to depression in 2000. Despite awareness campaigns and the availability of effective treatments, depression remained a considerable burden on both society and the individual, especially in terms of incapacity to work.
Source: Christine Thomas and Stephen Morris, 'Cost of depression among adults in England in 2000', British Journal of Psychiatry, December 2003
Links: Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Dec
An official working group report examined the needs of people in Scotland with co-occurring substance misuse (including alcohol) and mental health problems. It called for education on the problems that drugs and alcohol could cause and greater understanding of mental health; 'firm but fair' means of crime prevention, management and justice; earlier detection of abusive experiences, by facilitating disclosure and acceptable intervention; early intervention and support; and the right conditions to enable participation in the community, including positive education experience and peer support.
Source: Mind the Gaps: Meeting the needs of people with co-occurring substance misuse and mental health problems, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report
Date: 2003-Nov
A paper compared the mental health of four groups of women in the 1990s: teenage women who had first births, teenage non-mothers, and mothers of two older age groups. Teenage mothers tended to have a significantly higher level of depression in the medium term.
Source: Tim Futing Liao, Mental Health, Teenage Motherhood, and Age at First Birth among British Women in the 1990s, Working Paper 2003-33, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Nov
The government said it planned to introduce a Mental Health Bill including wider powers to detain people compulsorily for treatment. No Bill was referred to in the Queen's Speech, but the government said a Bill would be introduced following a process of pre-legislative scrutiny.
Source: Press release 18 November 2003, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Nov
A report said the 2002 draft Mental Health Bill could dramatically increase the workload of key mental health service staff and lead to a workforce crisis.
Source: The Draft Mental Health Bill: Assessment of the implications for mental health service organisations, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272)
Links: Report (pdf) | NHS Confederation press release | DH press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2003-Nov
A bulletin provided information about mentally disordered offenders admitted to, detained in, or discharged from hospitals. The number in hospital at the end of 2002 was 2,989, 0.7 per cent more than the previous year. The total number admitted to hospitals was 985 in 2002, 12 (or 1 per cent) fewer than the previous year.
Source: Daniel Howard and Olivia Christophersen, Statistics of Mentally Disordered Offenders 2002: England and Wales, Statistical Bulletin 14/03, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Bulletin (pdf)
Date: 2003-Nov
A research briefing examined the issue of promoting the mental health of children in need. It said that the earlier in a child s life preventive work began, the more likely it was to be effective; that longer-term strategies were more likely to be helpful than short-lived initiatives; and that interventions which focused on systems or contexts within which children lived (such as school, family, and neighbourhood) as well as on the child were more likely to be successful than interventions which focused on the child alone.
Source: Heather Payne and Ian Butler, Promoting the Mental Health of Children in Need, Quality Protects Research Briefing 9, Making Research Count (01603 593557), Department for Education and Skills, and Research in Practice
Links: Briefing paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Oct
Researchers sought to measure the lifetime prevalence of abusive experiences (in childhood and adulthood) and psychiatric morbidity among women. Domestic violence showed the strongest associations with most mental health measures, with sexual assault in adulthood also showing an association. But the study failed to demonstrate a link between childhood sexual abuse and later psychiatric disorder.
Source: Jeremy Coid et al., 'Abusive experiences and psychiatric morbidity in women primary care attenders', British Journal of Psychiatry, October 2003
Links: Abstract
Date: 2003-Oct
A report said that students were more likely to suffer mental illness than other young people. There had been a progressive increase in the number of students presenting to college counselling services, and in the apparent severity of their mental health problems.
Source: The Mental Health of Students in Higher Education, Royal College of Psychiatrists (020 7235 2351)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Oct
A large-scale survey found higher levels of mental distress among the lesbian, gay and bisexual community than in heterosexual people. It also recorded a high proportion of negative reactions from mental health professionals to gay men, lesbians and bisexual people being open about their sexuality.
Source: Michael King and Eamonn McKeown, Mental Health and Social Well Being of Gay Men, Lesbians and Bisexuals in England and Wales, Mind (020 8221 9666)
Links: Summary (pdf) | Mind press release
Date: 2003-Sep
A report presented short summaries of recently completed or current research on mental health issues by teams at the Personal Social Services Research Unit and the Centre for the Economics of Mental Health.
Source: Jennifer Beecham and Claire Curran (eds.), Mental Health Research Review 9, Personal Social Services Research Unit/University of Kent (01227 823963) and Centre for the Economics of Mental Health/Institute of Psychiatry
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
An article argued that the evidence-based approach to mental health policy was more applicable to specific treatments than to the care agencies that controlled their delivery. It said a much broader evidence base was called for, extending to studies in primary health care and the evaluation of preventative techniques.
Source: Brian Cooper, 'Evidence-based mental health policy: a critical appraisal', British Journal of Psychiatry, August 2003
Links: Abstract
Date: 2003-Aug
A study explored the attitudes and perceptions of a broad range of children and young people towards emotional and mental health and mental illness, and children's views and experiences of health and social services. The study was designed to enable children's services in one area (South Gloucestershire) to establish good methods, work practices and arrangements around listening to children, so as to guarantee their continuing effective participation in service planning and delivery.
Source: Yusuf Ahmad, Jane Dalrymple, Matthieu Daum, Nikki Griffiths, Tim Hockridge and Emily Ryan, Listening to Children and Young People, Faculty of Health and Social Care/University of the West of England (0117 344 8806)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jul
A regular survey of attitudes to mental illness in Great Britain found a slight worsening between 2000 and 2003. 89 per cent of respondents agreed that society had a responsibility to provide the best possible care (compared with 94 per cent in 2000). 83 per cent said society needed to adopt a far more tolerant attitude.
Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres, Attitudes to Mental Illness 2003, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Links to report removed by DH | DH press release
Date: 2003-Jun
A survey found that 10 per cent of people aged 60-74 living in private households (Great Britain: 2000) had a common mental disorder (such as anxiety, depression and phobias). Common mental disorders were strongly associated with disability - 37 per cent of people interviewed had difficulty with one or more of seven common activities of daily living (for example, personal care and household work).
Source: The Mental Health of Older People, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | ONS press release (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A study found that the cost of mental illness in England totalled 77.4 billion, twice as high as previously estimated, when quality of life was considered alongside the costs of care and lost work.
Source: The Economic and Social Costs of Mental Illness, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8352)
Links: SCMH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jun
A survey found that 6 per cent of people who did not have a common mental illness (such as anxiety and depression) when interviewed in 2000 did have such a disorder when they were interviewed again 18 months later. There was little difference between women (7 per cent) and men (6 per cent), or between age groups. Of those who had a common mental disorder when first interviewed, 51 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women did not have a disorder at the follow-up interview.
Source: Nicola Singleton and Glyn Lewis (eds.), Better or Worse: Longitudinal study of the mental health of adults living in private households in Great Britain, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | ONS press release (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A follow-up to a 1999 study of the mental health of children and adolescents in Great Britain found that the persistence and onset of child mental disorders were linked to child, family, household and social characteristics. Some 25 per cent of children who had an emotional disorder when first interviewed, and 43 per cent of those with a conduct disorder, were also assessed as having a similar disorder three years later. The persistence of emotional disorders was particularly linked with mothers' poor mental health, whereas the persistence of conduct disorders was associated with the child having special educational needs, being frequently shouted at, and mothers' poor mental health.
Source: Howard Meltzer, Rebecca Gatward, Tania Corbin, Robert Goodman and Tamsin Ford, Persistence, Onset, Risk Factors and Outcomes of Childhood Mental Disorders, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | ONS press release (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A study examined the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and smoking, drinking and cannabis use among adolescents aged 13 15. It was found that having a psychiatric disorder was associated with an increased risk of substance use, and that greater involvement with any one substance increased the risk of other substance use.
Source: A. Boys et al., 'Psychiatric morbidity and substance use in young people aged 13 15 years: results from the Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health', British Journal of Psychiatry, June 2003
Links: Abstract
Date: 2003-Jun
Among young people aged between 5 and 17 who were looked after by local authorities (England: 2001-02), 37 per cent had clinically significant conduct disorders; 12 per cent were assessed as having emotional disorders (anxiety and depression); and 7 per cent were rated as hyperactive. The new Minister for Children called for higher priority to be given to the needs of children in care.
Source: Howard Meltzer, Rebecca Gatward, Tania Corbin, Robert Goodman and Tamsin Ford, The Mental Health of Young People Looked After by Local Authorities in England, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 27.6.03, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | ONS press release (pdf) | DfES press release
Date: 2003-Jun
The government began consultation on the barriers that people with mental health problems faced when trying to get jobs and access services.
Source: Mental Health and Social Exclusion: Consultation document, Social Exclusion Unit/Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 5550)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | SEU press release | Rethink press release
Date: 2003-May
An official advisory body made a series of recommendations for changes to anti-discrimination law affecting disabled people. It called for urgent legislation to cover people with progressive conditions, so that such people were protected from the point at which they were diagnosed, rather than at the point when their symptoms made it difficult for them to carry out daily activities. It also said that people with mental illness were not afforded the same legal protection against discrimination as other disabled groups.
Source: Disability Equality: Making it Happen - First review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Disability Rights Commission (08457 622 633)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (Word file) | Press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-May
A survey found that fewer than two thirds of further education colleges had special services for students with a mental health problem. Most were unaware of the national service framework for mental health.
Source: Access to Adult Education for People Diagnosed with Mental Health Problems, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (0116 204 4200) and National Institute for Mental Health England
Links: Findings (Word file) | Community Care article
Date: 2003-May
The government's Social Exclusion Unit announced the start of two new projects. The first will examine the issue of worklessness, particularly in the most deprived neighbourhoods. The second will examine the links between mental health problems and social exclusion.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 5.3.03, column 83WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Press release (Word file)
Date: 2003-Mar
A report presented findings from an extensive study of missing persons. It provided new information on the motivations and circumstances of both missing adults and children, drawing directly on the views and experiences of missing adults themselves.
Source: Nina Biehal, Fiona Mitchell and Jim Wade, Lost from View: Missing persons in the UK, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary | Press release
Date: 2003-Mar
The Northern Ireland Executive published a strategy document aimed at promoting mental health and reducing suicides. It included a target to reduce the proportion of people with a potential psychiatric disorder from 21 per cent to 19.5 per cent by 2008.
Source: Promoting Mental Health: Strategy and Action Plan 2003 2008, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety/Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: Press release
Date: 2003-Feb
Children with a prisoner in the family are more likely to suffer from isolation, discrimination and significant mental health problems, according to a report.
Source: Exploring the Needs of Young People with a Prisoner in the Family, Action for Prisoners' Families (020 7384 1987)
Links: Press release (Word file) | Community Care article
Date: 2003-Jan
Researchers predicted that between 1998 and 2031 the numbers of people with cognitive impairment (dementia) in England will rise from 461,000 to 765,000 (an increase of 66 per cent). Of these 765,000 people, 376,000 would also have problems with activities of daily living.
Source: Adelina Comas-Herrera, Raphael Wittenberg, Linda Pickard and Martin Knapp, Cognitive Impairment in Older People: Its implications for future demand for services and costs, PSSRU Discussion Paper 1728, Alzheimer's Research Trust (01223 843899)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | LSE press release
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 31/4, Digest 124, paragraph 5.6
Date: 2003-Jan