Around 1-in-7 people globally have one or more mental or substance use disorders.1
So let's talk about it, bring awareness, and fight the stigma.
So people with mental illnesses can get the help they need no matter what it takes.
Because recovery is worth it.

The World Health Organization synthesize the potential contributors to mental health and well-being into three categories.2
Good mental health is related to mental and psychological well-being. Let's work to improve the mental health of individuals and society at large and include the promotion of mental well-being, the prevention of mental disorders, the protection of human rights and the care of people affected by mental disorders everyday.
Individual Attributes
Individual attributes and behaviours:
these can be particular genetic factors or personality traits
Social and Economic Circumstances
Social and economic circumstances
Environmental Factors
Environmental factors

Pooled relative risk (95% UI)

Link between mental health and suicide


The link between mental health and substance use disorders and suicide is well-documented. It is however true that not all suicides – or suicide attempts – are attributed to underlying mental health or substance use disorders. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), and Global Burden of Disease there is not a direct relationship between mental health prevalence and suicide rates.3

Although the total prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders does not show a direct relationship to suicide rates, there are notable links between specific types of mental health disorders and suicide. In a meta-study of the mental health-suicide relationship, the study assesses the pooled relative risk of suicide across a range of mental health and substance use disorders. This represents the increased risk of suicide for those with a particular mental health or substance use disorder.3

The chart on the right represents estimates of the increased risk of suicide for an individual with one of the following disorders. An individual with depression, for example, is 20 times more likely to die from suicide than someone without; some with anxiety disorder around 3 times; schizophrenia around 13 times; bipolar disorder 6 times; and anorexia 8 times as likely.

Depression prevalence by level of education & employment, 2014

Depression by education level & employment status


Categories in the chart have been categorized by education level and whether groups are employed, actively seeking employment, and the total of employed, active and unemployed. Across most countries (which you can explore by changing the the country) we tend to see the lowest prevalence in depression amongst those with tertiary (postsecondary) education; and highest prevalence in those who did not reach upper secondary education.

It is also notable that the large differences in education level close or disappear when we look only at the sub-group of those employed. Overall, the prevalence of depression appears to be lower in individuals in employment relative to those actively seeking employment, or the total population which also includes the unemployed.4
Chart Description: Share of adults aged 25-64 years old who reported having depression in large-scale survey analysis. This is differentiated by level of education, and within further disaggregated by employment status, ranging from employed to active (actively seeking employment) and total, which includes the total population whether employed or unemployed.4

Mental health as a risk factor for illicit drug dependency or abuse, 2010

Increased risk of developing an illicit drug dependency or abuse disorder in individuals with a given mental health disorder, relative to those without. A value of 3.9 for PTSD, for example, would indicate that individuals with PTSD are 3.9 times as likely to develop drug dependency relative to those without.5

Mental health as a risk factor for substance abuse


Mental health is known to be an important risk factor for the development of substance use disorders (either in the form of alcohol or illicit drug dependencies). The increased risk of a substance use disorder varies by mental health disorder type:

  • for alcohol dependency the risk is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.4

  • for illicit drug dependency the risk is highest for individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, ADHD, and bipolar disorder. 4

It is known that mental health and substance disorders can be closely related: the IHME often group these disorders together in a collective category when discussing related statistics. However, there is also significant evidence that individual mental health disorders, although to varying degrees, can increase the likelihood of an individual developing a substance use disorder relative to those without.5
recovery

Mental health treatment


There are a number of options for mental health treatment and recovery — choice of treatment and its effectiveness will be specific to a number of factors including the mental health disorder, its severity, previous treatment and the individual. There is not a single ‘best approach’ to treatment.

When people are directly involved in designing their own treatment plan, including defining recovery and wellness goals, choosing services that support them and evaluating treatment decisions and progress , the experience of care and outcomes are improved

There are many tools that can improve the experience on the road to wellness: medication, counseling (therapy), social support and education. Therapy, for example, can take many forms, from learning relaxation skills to intensively reworking your thinking patterns. Social support, acceptance and encouragement from friends, family and others can also make a difference. Education about how to manage a mental health condition along with other medical conditions can provide the skills and supports to enrich the unique journey toward overall recovery and wellness.6

References



1. Hannah Ritchie, "Global mental health: five key insights which emerge from the data," Our World in Data. May 16, 2018. https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#.

2. "Risks to mental health: an overview of vulnerabilities and risk factors," World Health Organization. August 27, 2012, https://www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap/risks_to_mental_health_EN_27_08_12.pdf.

3. Ferrari et al. "The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010," PLOS ONE, 2014, doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091936.

4. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, "Mental Health," Our World in Data. April 2018. https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#.

5. "Drug Use," Our World in Data. Accessed October 12, 2019. https://ourworldindata.org/drug-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency.

6. "Mental Health Treatment & Services," National Alliance on Mental Illness, Accessed November 11, 2019. https://www.nami.org/learn-more/treatment.