mental health

Employment and mental health: assessing the economic impact and the case for intervention

The importance of employment and its links with mental health are summarised and the European policy context described. The report then asks what the consequences of poor mental health for economic activity are, if a trend in productivity losses over time can be seen and what we know about employment rates for people with mental health problems. Barriers to employment, the economic case for helping such people remain in the workforce, assessing the cost effectiveness of interventions to this end, legislative and policy actions, and the way forward are discussed.

Dignity in care web site

Dignity in Care is a campaign being run by the Department of Health's website in the UK. It "aims to eliminate tolerance of indignity in health and social care services through raising awareness and inspiring people to take action." The focus of the campaign has mainly been on older people but has now been extended to include people with mental health needs. The website provides further information on the different aspects of the campaign, including relevant publications.

Understanding Depression in Later Life

The main focus of this learning object is depression amongst older people. The learning object begins by highlighting some of the problems with defining and diagnosing 'depression' and then goes on to discuss the estimated numbers of older people that are thought to suffer from the condition. Issues that make people more or less vulnerable to developing depression in later life are also examined. Finally, effective treatments for depression and explanations for why it so often remains unrecognised in older people is discussed.

The Life Course Approach

In this learning object you are introduced to the importance of seeing later life as one phase of an entire course of life from birth to death shaped by earlier life stages and experiences. Meaning and identity are important to mental health in later life and require that we can connect past, present and future in our lives. A highly influential theory of the life course which embodies these themes is the psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson, which you will consider in Section 2.

Life as an adult (Radio 4 series: The seven ages of humanity)

Four Radio 4 programmes in a series about the health and wellbeing of the seven ages of humanity, presented by Connie St Louis. These four programmes explore the adult years of 20-40.

The first programme looks at how the fully formed body functions, the second discusses sex and relationships, the third examines mental health in early adulthood, and the final programme discusses lifestyle and keeping active.

Mental health, resilience and inequalities

This report aims to demonstrate how poor mental health is a significant cause of wider social and health problems, including: low levels of educational achievement and work productivity; higher levels of physical disease and mortality; violence, relationship breakdown and poor community cohesion. In contrast, good mental health leads to better physical health, healthier lifestyles, improved productivity and educational attainment and lower levels of crime and violence.