World Mental Health Day, hosted by the World Federation of Mental Health, is on 10 October each year. To help mark the occasion, we’re raising awareness of what can be done to ensure that people with mental health problems can live with dignity.
The problem
One in four adults and one in ten children are likely to have a mental health problem in any given year. This can have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people in the UK, and can affect their ability to sustain relationships, work, or just get through the day.
But an ill-informed and damaging attitude among some people exists around mental health that can make it difficult for some to seek help. It is estimated that only about a quarter of people with a mental health problem in the UK receive ongoing treatment, leaving the majority of people grappling with mental health issues on their own, seeking help or information, and dependent on the informal support of family, friends or colleagues.
How can we challenge this?
We are confronting this stigma through facts. Facts that help us understand patterns of mental health problems, their causes and solutions. Facts that help us break down barriers in seeking help and support. We have produced an updated Fundamental Facts with the aim of distributing it to the widest audience possible.
