High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Mental Health
People living with chronic disease, especially with mental health problems, is an increasing challenge for society. Depression and other affective disorders were the 5th most common group of conditions reported in GP consultations in 2005/06.
Psychosocial health is measured in surveys using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12). This is a widely used standard measure of mental distress and psychological ill-health, consisting of 12 questions on recent concentration abilities, sleeping patterns, self-esteem, stress, despair, depression, and confidence. Overall scores range between 0 and 12. A score of four or more indicates the presence of a possible psychiatric disorder. A score of zero could, in contrast, be considered to be an indicator of psychological well-being.
The proportion of men with high GHQ12 scores has remained constant over time at 13%, while it has declined slightly for women, from 19% in 1995 and 1998 to 17% in 2003. However, there is a marked increase in those with zero scores, with men increasing from 60% in 1995 to 68% in 2003 and women increasing from 55% in 1995 to 61% in 2003.
In Scotland in 2006 there were 765 suicides (including both events of intentional self harm and of undetermined intent). This is equivalent to levels in the early 1990s. Rates of suicide (standardised by age) increased from the early 1980s to a peak in around 2000. Between 2000 and 2006, there has been a decrease in the rate of suicides but it is too early to say if this is the beginning of a consistent downward trend. The relatively small numbers involved mean that there is fluctuation in the data from year to year. Around three quarters of suicides each year are completed by males.
There has been a continuous increase in the number of prescriptions for antidepressants - from 1.16 million in 1992/93 to 3.53 million in 2005/06, with a commensurate increase in cost. Estimated daily use of antidepressant drugs by the population aged 15 to 90 increased from 1.9% in 1992/93 to 8.7% in 2005/06.
More recently a questionnaire has been developed to measure positive mental wellbeing rather than mental ill-health. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) asks respondents to read 14 separate statements describing feelings relating to mental wellbeing, and indicate how often they have felt this way over the last two weeks, using a 5 point scale (ranging from none of the time to all of the time). The overall score is calculated by totalling the scores for each item (minimum possible score is 14 and the maximum is 70); the higher a person's score is, the better their level of mental wellbeing.
The first survey to publish nationally representative results using WEMWBS was the "Well, What do You Think?" survey on attitudes to mental health, carried out in 2006. The mean score amongst adults was 51. The questionnaire has been included in the Scottish Health Survey from 2008 onwards to allow for future monitoring of trends in mental wellbeing.
View chart data
Source: Scottish Health Survey