MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

Mental Health Problems



Mental Health Problems

Introduction

The pressure of an increasingly demanding work culture in the UK is perhaps the biggest and most pressing challenge to the mental health of the general population. The cumulative effect of increased working hours is having an important effect on the lifestyle of a huge number of people, which is likely to prove damaging to their mental well-being. The Mental Health Foundation is concerned that a sizeable group of people are neglecting the factors in their lives which make them resistant or resilient to mental health problems. It is estimated that nearly three in every ten employees will experience a mental health problem in any one year. However the recent and dramatic rise in Britain's working hours would suggest this is likely to increase. In 2000 a Department for Education and Employment survey revealed that around one in eight employees was working more than 60 hours a week. That same year the Prime Minister launched the Work Life Balance campaign. Over the subsequent two years the number of people working more than 60 hours rose to one in six. The number of women working these hours more than doubled over the same period.

Summary

The article “Tackling Mental Health Problem In A Downturn” by Gill Trevelyan that mental helath issues have become very common. The Health of the Nation is a national response to WHO's campaign for Health for all by the year 2000. It sets goals for health outcomes and selects mental illnesses as a priority area. The overall mental illness goals are to prevent mental illness, improve health and social functioning of people with mental illness, reduce mortality from mental illness, reduce stigma, deliver effective services, and continue research into causes, care and consequences of mental illness. The national targets for mental illness are: 

to significantly improve the health and social functioning of mentally ill people; (Trevelyan 2009)

to reduce the overall suicide rate by at least 15% by the year 2000 from the 1990 level of 11 per 100,000; 

to reduce the lifetime suicide rate of severely mentally ill people by at least 33% by the year 2000. The overall strategy to achieve the targets is: 

to improve information and understanding about mental illness; 

to continue developing local comprehensive services; 

to promote good practice in mental health promotion, primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, and prevention of mortality. 

The mental illness key area encompasses the National Health Service (NHS) as well as a whole range of organizations and settings such as local authorities, the voluntary sector, the criminal justice system, schools, workplaces, cities and rural areas. Since the United Kingdom does not have a national occupational health service, many large employers have established their own occupational health services for their employees. 

There was considerable discussion about the economic downturn exposing more people to known risk factors for mental health problems. These include: unemployment and other major life changes, poverty (Hope 2008), unanticipated disruptions in income, uncertain and increasingly stressful work environments, debt and financial strain. These not only influence psychological well-being, but may also contribute to relationship strain, less leisure time for those in work, and less money to spend ...