Mental health in adults (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

Mental health is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as "a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community". 

Mental health problems are among the most common forms of ill health.

They can affect people at any point in their lives.

Mental health and physical health are inextricably linked. 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 physical health problems.

Traditionally a distinction has been drawn between severe and enduring mental illness, and common mental health problems:

• Severe and enduring mental health problems include psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia) and bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses which affect a person's cognition, insight and perception, with approximately 7 to 9% of all adults presented with a diagnosed severe mental illness.
• Common mental health problems include problems such as anxiety, depression, phobias, obsessive compulsive and panic disorders, with over 31.9% of the population presenting with anxiety and 33.7% with depression.
• Emotional Intensity Disorder (formerly known as borderline personality disorder) is a mental health personality disorder that affects the regulation of emotions. Emotional dysregulation is when a person experiences intense emotions that they are unable to manage in constructive ways.

Across England:

• 1 in 6 working age adults will have symptoms associated with mental ill health (MHFA England: Mental Health Statistics).
• Severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder affects around 587,000 people (OHID (phe.org.uk): Severe Mental Illness).
• Together with substance misuse, mental illness accounts for 21.3% of the total burden of disease across the country.
• The costs of mental health problems to the economy in England have recently been estimated by the Mental Health Foundation at £118 billion (Mental Health Foundation).
• Half of mental health problems have been established by the age of 14, rising to 75% by age 24 (Mental Health Foundation: Children and young people statistics).
• Those in the poorest fifth of the population are twice as likely to be at risk of developing mental health problems as those on an average income (GOV.UK: Wellbeing in mental health applying all our health).

Mental illness is closely associated with social inequalities; they are experienced disproportionately by the most disadvantaged groups in society.

In terms of social inequalities, mental illnesses have a wide range of detrimental impacts on employment, benefits, social isolation, and housing (GOV.UK: Health matters reducing health inequalities in mental illness).

The number of people in contact with NHS mental health services in England (including those referred and those seen) has increased by 16.2% in the last year (NHS News: Mental Health Bulletin).

During 2021 to 2022, 3,256,695 people were in contact with NHS funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services. This is up from 2,803,244 in 2020 / 21 and 2,878,636 in 2019 / 20.   

This means that 5.8% of people in England were known to be in contact with those services during the year. This is compared to 5.0% of people in 2020 to 2021 and 5.1% of people in 2019 to 2020. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has also had an effect on the mental health of the UK population, with a general deterioration in mental health and wellbeing during lockdown periods.

Some studies have shown gradual improvements towards pre-pandemic levels following lockdown easing, though these periods of 'recovery' were not observed in all studies, and self-reported mental health and wellbeing across the population remains worse than before the pandemic (GOV.UK: Wider impacts of COVID-19 on health monitoring tool).

The mental health effects of COVID-19 were different for different groups of people, and general population statistics may mask more profound impacts on these groups.

Women, young adults, those with pre-existing mental health conditions, adults experiencing loss of income or employment, those living in deprived neighbourhoods, some ethnic minority populations, extraverts and those living alone may have been more likely to experience worsening or deteriorating mental health during this period.

For people in South Tyneside, the Adult Social Care Strategy outlines the Council's approach to delivering its statutory responsibilities in terms of wellbeing. It also outlines the need to safeguard adults at risk of abuse or neglect and ensure that local people get the information and advice that they need to make informed choices.

The approach aims to develop a place-based system of care and support by placing people, families, and neighbourhoods at the very heart of its work to achieve the best outcomes.

In addition, South Tyneside's Mental Health Strategy covers actions and plans around improving mental health and wellbeing from conception through to end of life and makes clear the contribution that other policy areas such as housing or community safety make towards people having good mental health.

Scope

The scope of this Joint Strategic Needs and Assets Assessment (JSNAA) is for adult mental health and should be read in conjunction with other JSNAAs such as dementia, learning disabilities, carers, autism or children and young people.