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The National Attitudes to Mental Illness survey, released by the mental health anti-stigma campaign Time to Change, reveals that in England there has been an 8.3% improvement in attitudes since 2007. This means that 3.5 million people now have a better awareness and understanding of mental health.
The research shows a record number of people saying they would be willing to live, work and have a relationship with someone who has experience of a mental health problem.
However, despite these improvements mental health charities have said there’s more work that needs to be done to reduce stigma and discrimination.
“The survey shows that, as a society, we have continued to shift our thinking about mental health and how we behave towards those of us with experiences of mental health problems,” Sue Baker, Director of Time to Change, said.
“The driving force of the momentum built in recent years is the movement of thousands of people and organisations who are working tirelessly to tackle stigma, overturning old stereotypes and out-dated attitudes, and helping to give mental health a higher profile.
She added that people who are openly sharing their mental health experiences, in all walks of life, are key to this change.
But despite these significant improvements, the statistics also show that there’s more work to be done to reduce mental health stigma and discrimination.
“We know that stigma and discrimination are still common experiences which requires a sustained focus on effective strategies,” Sue said.
Time to Change is run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness and is funded by the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund.
The Chief Executive of Mind has welcomed the findings in the report but called for more change.
“Over the last decade we have made great strides in changing public attitudes about mental health or the better,” Paul Farmer, said.
“We have started to see real change happen but we won’t stop until the shame and fear that has for too long been associated with mental health becomes a thing of the past,” he added.
The survey has been conducted by global market research company TNS each year since 1993, with further analysis carried out by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London since 2009.
