Mental health conditions refers to a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behaviour.
Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function. Examples of mental health conditions include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and addictive behaviours, including substance abuse.
Quick facts
Poor mental health can substantially affect all aspects of life, including relationships, work, and school performance as well as undermine the progress of other international development efforts.
It is estimated that depression and anxiety, two of the most common mental health conditions, cost the global economy USD $1 trillion annually.
Poor mental health is linked to poor physical health, including increased risk for other NCDs, and worse outcomes among those with existing NCDs, due to the additional challenges in accessing and adhering to screening programmes and treatment. * * People with certain NCDs, are also more likely to develop mental health conditions. The result is that people with severe mental conditions tend to die prematurely – as much as two decades earlier.
Mental health conditions collectively are attributed to 1 in 5 years lived in disability.
Stigma and discrimination against people living with poor mental health has led to documented human rights violations and is a significant barrier to accessing treatment.
Mental health accounts for 11% of the total disease burden in low and middle- income countries, yet investment in mental health represents less than 1% of the total health budget in many countries.
Mental health conditions prevalence
About 1 in 5 adults has a mental health condition in any given year. Mental health conditions can begin at any age, from childhood through later adult years.
Fifty percent of the global population will have a mental health condition at some point in their lives.
An estimated 20% of children and adolescents globally have a mental health condition, and suicide is the leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds.
There are significant gender differences in patterns of mental health conditions. For example, while depression is twice as common in women than in men, the lifetime prevalence rate for alcohol dependence is twice as high in men than in women.
Indigenous peoples living in high-income countries (HICs) have a disproportionately high burden of mental health conditions.
Mental health conditions prevention
There’s no way to prevent mental illness, however, taking steps to control stress, increase resilience, and boost low self-esteem may help keep symptoms under control. Prevention of mental disorders demands a multipronged effort that addresses biological, psychological, social and/or societal risk and protective factors. The high comorbidity among mental health conditions with physical illness and social problems emphasises the need for a multidisciplinary approach to prevention. Holistic prevention approaches involve policies and programmes that target social inequities, support dignified livelihoods, and reduce stigma against mental health conditions and violence can reduce the burden of mental health conditions and/or decrease their severity. There are also evidence-based interventions that work on the individual or family level to reduce stress and enhance resilience and social support.
Treatment for mental health conditions
In many cases, symptoms can be managed through medication and/or psychotherapeutic interventions. Managing mental health disorders is a critical part of treatment for other NCDs, as it can play a critical role in helping people make changes that reduce their risk of, and prevent the progression of, existing NCDs.
How is GACD addressing the burden of mental health conditions?
Since 2017, GACD funded 76 projects in over 49 countries that aim to reduce the burden of mental disorders in LMICs, and in populations of vulnerability in HICs. The portfolio of funded projects includes those that target dementia, depression, anxiety, substance misuse, Attention Deficit Disorder, and severe psychotic illnesses including schizophrenia. The projects identify ways to embed proven, evidence-based interventions into local health systems and communities using implementation research methods.
A list of funded mental health research projects is available here.
There are also several GACD working groups advancing mental health research. These include work to create standardised implementation measures and health outcome measures for mental health research projects.
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