Mind responds to Interim Prevalence report
The interim Independent Review Into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD And Autism has been published by the UK Government.
The key findings relating to mental health are:
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Evidence shows consistently that common mental health conditions and psychological distress have increased over the past two decades, particularly among younger people
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The prevalence of common mental disorders, principally anxiety and depression, among adults in England has risen from around 15–16% in the early 1990s to around 23% by the mid-2020s, with the clearest increases observed among young adults
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The report finds that psychological distress has increased most clearly among younger people, marking a significant shifting of previous age-based patterns. Historically, distress tended to be higher in midlife than in early adulthood. More recent evidence shows that young adults now report higher levels of distress than older age groups, with this shift emerging from the early 2010s rather than solely during the pandemic
Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO of Mind, said: “This interim report paints a complex and nuanced picture but of course it is. The most concerning to note is that young people are facing greater mental health problems than ever before.
“These changes to young people’s mental health matter. Rising distress among young people is a contributing factor linked to educational disruption, school absence, disengagement from work and training, and high rates of young people not in education, employment or training.
“We need to better understand why this is happening, and so the review continues to examine the evidence and listen to people with lived experience. Mind is proud to be involved with the review and we will continue to make sure that the voices of people with mental health problems are front and centre.”
