How common are mental health problems?
Note on terminology: the language and terminology of psychiatric diagnosis used in this document refers to the original sources used. The use of such language in no way implies Mind's unqualified acceptance of it. It has been retained for the sake of accuracy.
The 1 in 4 statistic
1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in any given year.
This is the most commonly quoted statistic, and the one which has the most research evidence to support it. It came initially from a large scale study published first in 1980, then updated again 1992[i]. This figure is further supported by the results of all three Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys[ii]
The breakdown below gives an overview of what treatment those who experience mental health problems are likely to seek and get:
- around 300 people out of 1,000 will experience mental health problems every year in Britain
- 230 of these will visit a GP
- 102 of these will be diagnosed as having a mental health problem
- 24 of these will be referred to a specialist psychiatric service
- 6 will become inpatients in psychiatric hospitals.
Common mental health problems
This chart shows the prevalence of common mental health problems since 1993[iii] Please click on the image to enlage.
Note: People may have more than one type of common mental disorder, so the percentage with any disorder is not the sum of those with specific disorders.
Individual Conditions
- Depression
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Eating disorders
- Post natal depression
- Phobias
- Personality disorders
- Bipolar disorder (manic depression)
- Schizophrenia
Depression
- Depression with anxiety is experienced by 9.7 per cent of people in England, and depression without anxiety by 2.6 per cent.[iv]
- Women have a higher prevalence of mixed anxiety and depressive disorder than men. The ONS figure for women is 11.8 per cent of the population in England and for men 7.6 per cent.[v]
- Overall, depression occurs in 1 in 10 adults or 10 per cent of the population in Britain at any one time, according to the ONS, closely matching figures from other studies.[vi] [vii]
- Around 1 in 20 people at any one time experience major or ‘clinical’ depression.[viii]
Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Around 1.3 per cent of the population of England have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) at any one time according to the NHS Information Centre.[x]
- Other studies suggest that up to 3 per cent of the population will experience OCD at some time in their life.[xi]
- Several studies suggest a lifetime prevalence of 2 to 3 per cent. However, NICE suggests that these figures are too high and that some studies may have over-diagnosed people participating in the studies.[xii]
- Studies are divided over whether this is more common for women: one survey gives a female to male ratio of 15:11[xiii], whereas other studies have suggested no clear gender difference in diagnostic rates for OCD.
Eating disorders
- The incidence of anorexia nervosa is around 19 per 100,000 of the population per year for women and 2 per 100,000 per year for men, according to NICE.[xiv]
- The prevalence for bulimia nervosa is between 0.5 and 1.0 per cent for young women, suggests NICE.
- Around 90 per cent of those diagnosed with bulimia are thought to be girls, according to NICE.
- Beating Eating Disorder (beat) suggests that the prevalence rates for anorexia might be around 1 –2 per cent.[xv] For bulimia they suggest a prevalence rate of 1-3 per cent.
- As many cases of eating disorder are unreported or undiagnosed, the actual figures are likely to be much higher. beat suggests that as many as 1.5 million people in the UK might be experiencing some form of eating disorder.[xvi]
Postnatal depression
- The most common form of postnatal disturbance is the ‘baby blues’ which is said to be experienced by at least half of all mothers in the western world.
- However, different studies suggest different figures for the number of women affected by ‘baby blues’, and estimates vary between 15 and 85 per cent.[xvii]
- Baby blues usually lasts for a few hours or a few days.[xviii] The condition is so common that it is considered as normal.
- Some women have a much more severe change in mood after the birth of their child and may be assessed as experiencing postnatal depression (PND). A number of studies indicate that 10-15 per cent of new mothers will experience PND.[xix]
- Puerperal psychosis is a severe and relatively rare form of postnatal depression affecting between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent of all new mothers.[xx]
Phobias
- Around 2.6 per cent of adults in England experience phobias.[xxi]
- One study, it is shown that women are twice as likely as men to experience phobias.
- Other studies show widely differing rates: one author quotes two community surveys - one in Canada, giving a prevalence rate of 7.7 per cent; and another very large US survey, giving a rate of 13.3 per cent.[xxii]
Personality disorders
- In Britain the prevalence of personality disorder ranges from 2 per cent to 13 per cent according to different studies.
- The concept of a personality disorder is controversial and use of this diagnosis is often questioned. Some diagnoses are applied more commonly to men (such as dissocial personality disorder), while others are applied more commonly to women (such as borderline personality disorder).[xxiii]
- ONS reports that the prevalence rate for personality disorder in the UK is around 5.4 per cent for men and 3.4 for women.[xxiv]
Bipolar disorder (Manic Depression)
- Most studies give a lifetime prevalence of 1 per cent for bipolar disorder and equal prevalence rates for men and women.[xxv]
- However, hospital admission rates are much higher owing to the recurrent nature of the illness.[xxvi]
- It is estimated that 20 per cent of people who have a first episode of manic depression do not get another.[xxvii]
Schizophrenia
- Most studies show a lifetime prevalence for schizophrenia of just under 1 per cent.
- ONS suggests a per year prevalence rate of around 5 per 1000 of the population (0.5 per cent)[xxviii].
- It is estimated that the prevalence at any one time is about 2 per 1000 (0.2 per cent).[xxix]
- While prevalence rates are the same for men and women, age and gender together is an important factor: one study shows incidence for men aged 15-24 is twice that for women, whereas for those between 24-35, it is higher among women. This reflects a common late onset of the illness for women.[xxx]
- One estimate suggests that around 37-40 per cent of people diagnosed with psychosis will fit the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.[xxxi]
Understanding the figures
The frequency of mental health problems is well documented statistically. However, these figures need to be treated with some caution.
Often widely differing figures will be given for the same mental health problem, making it difficult to determine exactly how common it is. This is partly because these figures are not always measuring the same thing. For example, in order to reflect the fact that mental health is not fixed but likely to change over time, a variety of different figures are used. The most common are:
Prevalence: this measures the number of people with a particular diagnosis at a given time.
Lifetime prevalence: this measures the number of people who have experienced a particular mental health problem at any time in their lives.
Incidence: this measures the number of new cases of a particular mental health problem that appear in a given time period.
Often these figures are compared to provide further information about a mental health problem. For example, comparing the number of new cases, (the incidence) with the number who are ill at any one time (the prevalence) can give us a rough idea of the average amount of time a mental health problem is likely to last.
Another important factor is the kind of sample used to arrive at a particular figure. Often the number of people treated by health professionals is used to determine how common a mental health problem is. However, this is likely to ignore all those who have not come into contact with services. Furthermore, psychiatric diagnosis is often far from straightforward - a person's diagnosis may be changed several times in the course of their treatment. An alternative is to take a sample of the whole population and interview people, according to a standard set of criteria, to see if they have a mental health problem. This approach, known as a community survey, although expensive and time consuming, is usually the most reliable.
This factsheet was written by Inger Hatloy, Information Officer, 2011.
It will be reviewed in June 2012.
Copyright note: You are welcome to print and photocopy this page of Mind's website. Organisations are free to distribute copies to service users and colleagues, but must ensure they always use the latest version, as available on the website, at the time of distribution.
[i] Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P., (1992), 'Common mental disorders a bio-social model', London: Routledge
[ii] Meltzer et al (1995) ‘Surveys of psychiatric morbidity in Great Britain: Report 1’ HMSO: London
[iii] The Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2009, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, Results of a household survey [Table 2.4, Pg 41]
[iv] The Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2009, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, Results of a household survey
[v] The Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2009, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, Results of a household survey
[vi] Healy, D. 1998, ‘Gloomy days and sunshine pills’ Openmind, 90, March/April.
[vii] Hale, A. 1997, ‘ABC of mental health: depression’ British medical journal, 315, 5 July pp. 43-46.
[viii] Hale, A. 1997, ‘ABC of mental health: depression’ British medical journal, 315, 5 July pp. 43-46.
[x] The Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2009, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, Results of a household survey
[xi] De Silva, P. & Rachman, S. 1992, OCD - the facts, OU Press, Oxford.
[xii] NICE, 2006, Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Core interventions in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, The British Psychological Society and The Royal College of Psychiatrists
[xiii] The Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2009, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, Results of a household survey
[xiv] NICE, 2004, Eating Disorders, Core interventions in the treatment and management of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and related eating disorders, National Clinical Practice Guideline Number CG9, developed by, National Collaboration Centre for Mental Health, commissioned by NICE, The British Psychological Society and Gaskell
[xv] beat, 2007, Understanding eating disorders and how you can help, Some Statistics, downloaded 27 Feb 2008, from http://www.b-eat.co.uk/NewsEventsPressMedia/PressMediaInformation/Somestatistics
[xvi] beat, 2007, Understanding eating disorders and how you can help, Some Statistics, downloaded 27 Feb 2008, from http://www.b-eat.co.uk/NewsEventsPressMedia/PressMediaInformation/Somestatistics
[xvii] BMJ Best Treatments. 2008, Postnatal depression, The baby blues, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, downloaded 27 Feb 2008, from http://besttreatments.bmj.com/btuk/conditions/1000691238.html
[xviii] BMJ Best Treatments. 2008, Postnatal depression, The baby blues, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, downloaded 27 Feb 2008, from http://besttreatments.bmj.com/btuk/conditions/1000691238.html
[xix] Lee, D, Yip, A, Leung, T and Chung, T, 2004, Ethnoepidemiology of postnatal depression, The British Journal of Psychiatry 184; 34-40
[xxi] The Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2009, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, Results of a household survey
[xxii] Stern, R. 1995, Mastering phobias - cases, causes and cures, Penguin, London.
[xxiii] Marlowe, M. & Sugarman, P. 1997, ‘ABC of mental health: disorders of personality’ British medical journal, 315, 19 July, pp.176-179.
[xxiv] ONS 2000, Psychiatric morbidity among adults living in private households in Great Britain.
[xxv] Goodwin, F. & Jamison, K. 1990, Manic-depressive illness, OU Press, Oxford.
[xxvi] Thompson, D. 1993, Mental illness: the fundamental facts, Mental Health Foundation.
[xxvii] Wing, J. & Marshall, P. 1994, ‘Protocol for visiting teams: standards for clinical and social care in schizophrenia’, Clinical Standards Advisory Group, quoted in Bird, L. 1999, The fundamental facts, Mental Health Foundation.
[xxviii] ONS 2000, Psychiatric morbidity among adults living in private households in Great Britain
[xxix] Mangalore,R. and Knapp, M., 2006, Cost of Schizophrenia in England, PSSRU Discussion Paper 2376
[xxx] Warner, R. 1994, Recovery from schizophrenia - psychiatry and political economy, Routledge, London.
[xxxi] Mangalore, R and Knapp, M, 2006, Cost of Schizophrenia in England, PSSRU Discussion Paper 2376