How Common is Mental Distress?

Mental illness is an extremely common form of distress, and every disorder can be a miserable, life disrupting experience. There are so many organisations dedicating their services to help those suffering from an illness that you shouldn't have to deal with the problem on your own. The statistics below show just how common some of the most familiar conditions can be.

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The most common form of mental distress:

Mixed anxiety and depression, according to the ONS 2000 survey, is experienced by 9.2 per cent of adults in Britain. This is followed by general anxiety at 4.7 per cent and depression (without the symptoms of anxiety) at 2.8 per cent. As indicated in the table below, the figures show an increase in the prevalence of mixed anxiety with depression compared with the 1993 survey by 1.4 per cent (from 7.8 per cent to 9.2 per cent).

The least common form of mental distress:

The least common disorder in the ONS survey is panic disorder, affecting 0.7 per cent of the population of Britain. In 2000 there was a slight decrease, 0.5 per cent, in the prevalence of obsessive compulsive disorder compared with the figures for 1993.

Prevalence of mental health problems - by gender (people aged between 16 to 64 years)

All figures are percentages

Diagnosis and rate (past week)	Female		Male		All
	1993	2000	1993	2000	1993	2000
Mixed anxiety and depression	10.1	11.2	5.5	7.2	7.8	9.2
Generalised anxiety disorder	5.3	4.8	4.0	4.6	4.6	4.7
Depressive episode	2.8	3.0	1.9	2.6	0.3	2.8
Phobias	2.6	2.4	1.3	1.5	1.9	1.9
Obsessive compulsive disorder	2.1	1.5	1.2	1.0	1.7	1.2
Panic disorder	1.0	0.7	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.7
Any neurotic disorder	19.9	20.2	12.6	14.4	16.3	17.3

Source: ONS, 2000, Psychiatric morbidity among adults living in private households in Great Britain.

(Statistics from Mind.org.uk)

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The table shows how common mental illnesses changed in the seven years from 1993 to 2000. It is clear there was an increase in figures for majority of disorders but in a few cases there was a slight decrease, which shows how certain mental illnesses are becoming less recognised. All of the illnesses listed appear to be more common in females than males except for Panic disorder, which increased slightly above the female percentage in 2000.

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The most common symptom of mental distress:

Sleep problems and fatigue are the problems most often reported. In 2000, 29 per cent of all adults reported some sleep problems. That figure has increased by four per cent since 1993. More women than men have sleep problems. As indicated in the table below 34 per cent of women have sleep problems. Among men the figure is 10 per cent lower. Women are also more likely to report fatigue. However, the figures from 2000 show little or no increase from 1993.

Prevalence of neurotic symptoms - by gender (people aged between 16 to 64 years)

All figures are percentages

Diagnosis and rate (past week)	Female		Male		All
	1993	2000	1993	2000	1993	2000
Sleep problems	28	34	21	24	25	29
Fatigue	33	33	21	23	27	28
Irritability	25	24	19	20	22	22
Worry	23	23	17	18	20	20
Depression	11	12	8	11	10	12
Concentration and forgetfulness	10	11	6	9	8	10
Depressive ideas	11	12	7	9	9	10
Anxiety	11	10	8	9	10	9
Somatic symptoms	10	9	5	6	8	7
Worry about physical health	5	7	4	7	5	7
Obsessions	12	4	7	5	9	6
Phobias	7	6	3	4	5	5
Compulsions	8	4	5	3	6	3
Panic	3	2	2	2	3	2

(Statistics from Mind.org.uk)

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This table of data again shows how common these particular symptoms are in women compared to men. The only exception here is Obsessions where the figure for males took over the percentage of suffering females, but only slightly. The table also shows that the percentage increase in females from 1993 to 2000 is much higher than in males for majority of the symptoms.