There is urgent global need to reduce stigma against people with mental health

Every year on 10^thOctober is #WorldMentalHealthDay, a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the #WorldFederationforMentalHealth, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries.

World Mental Health Day provides an opportunity to address, as a global community, one of the greatest personal, medical, and economic challenges of our time: the growing need to effectively intervene in and treat mental illnesses, which will afflict one in four people during their lifetimes.

Around 450 million people worldwide have a mental health condition. According to the World Health Organization, one in four of us will experience a mental or neurological disorder during our lifetime.

Mental health issues today have almost become pandemic. Depression and anxiety in particular are increasing rapidly, with much still clinically under- and undiagnosed. This pattern is persistent around the world.

The World Economic Forum estimated that direct and indirect costs of mental health amount to over 4 percent of global GDP, more than the cost of cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease combined.

Depression is the leading cause of disability around the world. Yet low-income countries generally lack the human resources necessary to provide adequate care for the mentally ill, resulting in an astonishing treatment gap.

The negative impact of stigma

Stigma refers to a cluster of negative beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that motivate people to fear, reject and discriminate against people with mental health problems. Stigma can have far-reaching and devastating consequences for those lives it touches. In many ways, the impact of stigma is remarkably consistent across the world. But there are national and regional variations.

Exclusion by friends and family can lead to increased social isolation, often making mental health problems worse. Negative impacts on employment add to the problem, with higher rates of unemployment, part-time or low-paid work, and worse prospects for promotion.

In some countries in South and South-east Asia, having experience of mental ill health, or even having someone in your immediate family with a mental health condition, can often negatively impact your prospects of marriage. As a result, people hide mental illness under a cloak of secrecy – further reducing the chances of access to treatment and recovery.

The effects of stigma and discrimination also lead to poorer access to physical health care, increasing an already elevated risk of a premature death. Due to low investment in mental health treatment and care worldwide, treatment rates are low – about 25% of people with mental ill health are treated in richer countries and only about 5% in poorer countries.

Overcoming the silence that comes with mental health is a growing issue globally. Despite the overwhelming need, political leaders frequently overlook the importance of mental health. In Africa, the “treatment gap” — the proportion of people with mental illness who don’t get treatment — ranges from 75 percent in Africa to more than 90 percent.

In a positive point, it is great to see our organizations globally working together and taking action on mental health, we have benefited greatly already from this collaboration which has seen us come together as a stronger, more influential advocate for those living with mental ill health. 

By finding effective ways to reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental ill health in low- and middle-income countries, more people gain access to mental healthcare and achieve greater levels of social inclusion in their community.