Mental health
A number of studies are underway or completed focusing on mental health economics and policy, including: research on the economic costs schizophrenia and psychosis, perinatal health, depression and mental health promotion and prevention; the cost-effectiveness of different interventions for youth mental health, depression, anxiety; mental health promotion strategies for children; and strategies in the workplace for older people.
Key findings
- Hospital care costs for people who self-harm amount to £162 million each year
- Every £1 invested in workplace stress preventionresults in an estimated saving to society of £2.00 (over 2 years)
- There are clear economic and societal arguments for investing in mental health interventions for women during pregnancy and immediately after birth
- Perinatal mental health problems cost the UK £8.1 billion each year
- Childhood bullying has a strong link to mental health service use throughout a person’s life, putting additional strain on an "already overstretched" UK healthcare system
- The cost of workplace depression is US$246 billion across eight countries
Current studies
Our study will explore how these programmes work, for whom, and in what situations. We will use a new approach called “realist economic evaluation”; this is a new way of studying to help us understand how a programme can be delivered using resources in the best possible ways to achieve value for money. This approach also helps us understand how support programmes might change current and future demands on public services and improve families’ lives, including through employment or volunteering.
The ICare study is establishing a comprehensive model of promoting mental health in Europe, with a platform which encompasses evidence-based risk detection, disease prevention, and treatment facilitation for common mental health disorders.
The OOTLES study is evaluating the long-term economic impacts of mental health problems experienced by children and young people in three British birth cohorts (1946, 1958 and 1970) and implications for policy and service provision.
The STENGTHS programme aims to improve the responsiveness of mental health systems in Europe and key Middle Eastern countries by integrating mental health services for adult and adolescent Syrian refugees into primary and community care systems
This project seeks to understand the dynamics between poverty and mental health by examining the impact of antipoverty policies, such as cash transfers, on mental health among young people in low- and middle-income countries, as well as impact of mental health interventions on life chances and future risk of poverty.