Treating mental illness is the right thing to do morally but also economically. Richard Layard of the Centre for Economic Performance explains why treating mental illness should be high on the public agenda. The costs of treatment for mental illness are far less than the costs of doing nothing.

Mental illness (especially depression and chronic anxiety) is the biggest single cause of misery in advanced countries. But only one quarter of those who are ill receive treatment. Mental health is crucial for wellbeing and there are modern evidence-based ways of treating mental health problems which have no net cost to the Exchequer. What are the most important factors affecting wellbeing in our society? And what low-cost ways do we have of improving wellbeing, when ?all the money?s gone?? The final briefing in the CEP 2015 Election Analyses series looks at the progress made in the provision of treatment for mental health problems and considers the plans each major party have put forward to both maintain and expand services.

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1 May 2015     Paper Number CEPEA035

Download PDF - A New Priority for Mental Health

This CEP election analysis is published under the centre's Community Wellbeing programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Mental health policies