Public attitudes towards mental health and people with mental health problems are getting worse, according to new research.
The research, led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, was conducted on behalf of leading mental health charity Mind and released as part of the charity's annual Big Mental Health Report.
Using data from 1,563 respondents who took part in the 2024 wave of the Attitudes to Mental Illness survey, the research shows that stigma worsened significantly between 2023 and 2024. A number of key indicators of attitudes to mental health are back at 2009 levels after years of improvement to 2019 during the Time to Change stigma reduction programme.
Mind is warning that an increasingly negative public discourse, from politicians and in the media, around mental health risks undoing the progress in attitudes and stigma achieved in recent years. Researchers have suggested that this discourse includes young people being branded as "workshy" and accused of misusing the welfare system.
Attitudes are backsliding
The negative shifts in attitudes have been driven by increases in prejudice and attitudes that indicate a desire to exclude people with mental health problems. This in part has been driven by an increased perception of people with mental health problems as violent.
More than one in 10 people would not want to live next door to someone who has been mentally ill, even if they have recovered - the highest proportion in 15 years.
The research shows troubling shifts in attitudes to people with mental health problems receiving care in the community. Fewer people now believe that being part of a normal community is the best therapy for people with mental health problems than in 2008 (from a peak of 83 per cent in 2015, to 68 per cent now), when this research was first conducted.
Fears about people with a mental health problem living in their community are also on the rise. Fewer people are comfortable about mental health services being delivered in their communities (from 70 per cent in 2015 to 63 per cent now), and more are concerned that having such services in their area downgrades the neighbourhood (10 per cent in 2019 to 16 per cent now).
Overall, fewer people now believe we need to be adopting a more tolerant approach to people with mental health problems (from a peak of 91 per cent in 2015, down to 85 per cent), with this figure now back around 2008 levels.
Mental health services backsliding too
Mind's Big Mental Health report also reveals the worsening state of mental health services, in particular for children and young people:
- Young people's access to early support has fallen away, with youth service funding in England having dropped by 73 per cent since 2010, and specialist mental health services continuing to face growing demand they can't meet. The research suggests that people are aware of this, with only one in 10 agreeing that there are sufficient services for people with mental illness.
- In England in 2024, councils' core funding per resident was 18 per cent lower in real terms than in 2010. Vital statutory services like adult and children's social care remain stretched, while non-statutory services, including planning, housing, transport, and culture, have seen cuts of over 40 per cent. Youth services and children's centres have been hit hardest, with funding down by 70 per cent since 2010-11.
- Between 2011-19, a 15 per cent cut to local spending on cultural, environmental and planning services in England, such as libraries, parks and community programmes, was linked to worsening mental health, including higher levels of anxiety and depression.
Reasons for hope
There is positive news. More than 90 per cent of people agreed that virtually anyone can be affected by mental ill health, while more than 96 per cent felt that people with poor mental health have been ridiculed for far too long.
Also, 80 per cent of people believe that people with mental health problems should have the same right to work as anyone else.
Stigma has many contributing factors. We're increasingly seeing healthcare services that are stretched and struggling to cope with demand, while people are struggling in difficult economic circumstances. These problems may lead to a loss of empathy in general for people with mental health problems; one positive finding, however, is that people's desire to interact with someone who has a mental health problem, when asked to imagine they know them, has not declined.
Professor Claire Henderson, Clinical Professor of Public Mental Health at King's College London and co-author of the study
The return of aspects of mental health stigma to levels last seen in 2009 is deeply concerning. While this data specifically tracks stigma, it raises serious questions about whether individuals with mental health conditions are also facing increased discrimination.
Dr Amy Ronaldson, Research Fellow at King's College London and co-author of the study
Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO of Mind, said: "When mental health stigma rises, life gets more difficult for people with mental health problems; it becomes harder to secure the change and improvements to services that are so desperately needed; and it becomes less of a priority for government and those with the ability help make things better. We need decision makers to fully grasp the scale of the mental health challenges this country is facing and in particular the challenges facing young people.
"Our children and young people are in clear need of greater support. Unless better systems are introduced as a matter of urgency, we risk losing a generation to poor mental health. We need greater investment in mental health services to bring down waiting lists and improve early intervention. Early Support Hubs are key to this and rolling these out should be a priority for the UK government."
Attitudes to mental health are the foundation on which improvements are made. It is not too late to turn this around. With the right services in place, we can become a mentally healthier nation - but it will take work. And that work needs to start now.
Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO of Mind
Time to Change was a campaign which ran 2009-2021 to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. It was led by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and engaged people in schools, workplaces and communities to challenge negative attitudes and promote open conversations about mental health.
The Attitudes to Mental Illness survey tracks changes in mental health knowledge and behaviour since 2009 and attitudes related to mental health since 2008. Analysis has been carried out for every wave of the Attitudes to Mental Illness survey by the team at King's College London.
The summary data is available as a pre-print at medRxiv. The full analysis not yet peer-reviewed or published.
