Mental health issues are still a stigma with people discriminating against sufferers, according to the latest government statistics.

Tolerance of those suffering mental health problems is improving, although significant numbers still have fear and uncertainty over the condition.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre, part of the NHS, has conducted the study each year since 1994.

Significant changes

Some significant changes in that time include:

• The percentage of people agreeing that ‘Mental illness is an illness like any other’ increased

from 71% in 1994 to 77% in 2011.

• The percentage saying they would be comfortable talking to a friend or family member about

their mental health rose from 66% in 2009 to 70% in 2011.

• The percentage saying they would feel uncomfortable talking their employer about their

mental health was 43%, compared to 50% in 2010.

Other highlighted findings for 2011 include:

• 25% of respondents agreed ‘Most women who were once patients in a mental hospital

can be trusted as babysitters’.

• Agreement that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and willpower stands at 16%.

• The percentage of people saying that locating mental health facilities in a residential area

downgrades the neighbourhood stood at 17%.

Stigma and discrimination

Two new questions about stigma and discrimination were asked in 2010 and repeated this year:

• Whether people with mental illness experience stigma and discrimination nowadays, because of their mental health problems;

• Whether mental health-related stigma and discrimination has changed in the past year.

“Overall, 85% respondents in 2011 said that people with mental illness experience stigma

and discrimination,” said the report. “ Half (50%) said they experience a lot of discrimination, and a further 35% that they experience a little discrimination. There was no significant change in responses to this question from 2010 to 2011.

“Around a half of respondents (48%) in 2011 said that mental health-related stigma and

discrimination has not changed in the past year. Again there were no significant changes in responses to this question between 2010 and 2011.”

A copy of the report and datasets are available from [LINK: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/attitudestomi11]

What is diversity? See http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/what-is-diversity

Do you want more than what Diversity Training can deliver? See Diversity at Work in the workplace http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/training-a-events