TRENDS IN MENTAL ILLNESS: • One adult in six had a common mental disorder (CMD): about one woman in
five and one man in eight. Since 2000, overall rates of CMD in England steadily
increased in women and remained largely stable in men.
• Reported rates of self-harming increased in men and women and across age
groups since 2007. However, much of this increase in reporting may have been
due to greater awareness about the behaviour.
• Young women have emerged as a high-risk group, with high rates of CMD, selfharm,
and positive screens for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and bipolar
disorder. The gap between young women and young men increased.
• Most mental disorders were more common in people living alone, in poor physical
health, and not employed. Claimants of Employment and Support Allowance
(ESA), a benefit aimed at those unable to work due to poor health or disability,
experienced particularly high rates of all the disorders assessed.
TRENDS IN TREATMENT AND SERVICE USE:
• One person in three with CMD reported current use of mental health treatment
in 2014, an increase from the one in four who reported this in 2000 and 2007.
This was driven by steep increases in reported use of psychotropic medication.
Increased use of psychological therapies was also evident among people with
more severe CMD symptoms.
• There were demographic inequalities in who received treatment. After controlling
for level of need, people who were White British, female, or in mid-life (especially
aged 35 to 54) were more likely to receive treatment. People in the Black ethnic
group had particularly low treatment rates.
• Socioeconomic inequalities in treatment use were less evident, although people
living in lower income households were more likely to have requested but not
received a particular mental health treatment.
• Since 2007, people with CMD had become more likely to use community services
and more likely to discuss their mental health with a GP.