Mental Health
8.54 Poor mental health has been associated with poor socio-economic status, poor education, poor opportunities for employment and general 'social exclusion'. Mental health and physical health are also interlinked; poor physical health may increase the likelihood of developing poor mental health, and poor mental health may increase risks of developing or not recovering from serious physical health problems. It is, however, very difficult to measure mental health. Two measures are used as a proxy: hospital admissions and deaths by suicide and undetermined injury.
8.55 The Health Survey for England suggests that 11.5% (or about 1 in 10) of adults in the South West may have a mental health problem at any one time, while the National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey suggests that 7.4% of adults will have a significant problem that is likely to require treatment.
8.56 There were 20,122 psychiatric admissions in the South West in the financial year 2003/04, with numbers split almost equally between men and women. Compared with England as a whole, the South West had a similar rate of admissions for neurosis (severe forms of normal experiences such as anxiety, with 1,621 admissions in those aged 16 years and over) and a lower rate of admissions for schizophrenia and related psychoses (severe distortion of a person’s perception of reality, with 2,331 admissions in those aged 16-63 years). There were 1,396 deaths from suicide and undetermined injury in the combined years 2002-04 and the region’s rate is similar to England as a whole. Neurosis admission rates are higher in women, whereas schizophrenia admission rates and rates of mortality from suicide and undetermined injury are higher in men.