With one in four UK adults facing mental health problems, talking about it a little more could help break the taboo, writes Nel Staveley

Asking somebody how they are these days is such a default question, do we even really hear the answer?

“You all right?” “Yeah, fine.” End of conversation. But it shouldn’t be. It really, really shouldn’t be.

Because a quarter of us will not be fine at all; one in four UK adults is battling mental illness, but many are too ashamed to admit it – 44 per cent are even too embarrassed to tell their own family and friends.

It’s terrifying that, in this seemingly forward-thinking day and age, mental illness is still so stigmatised.

It’s good to talk

“It’s shocking to see that so many people are still waiting over a year to talk to their nearest and dearest – it’s hard to imagine this happening with other health issues,” agrees Sue Baker, director of anti-stigma campaign Time To Change (www.time-to-change.org.uk).

Time To Change is here to address that, asking everyone to spend just five minutes talking about mental health. That might be chatting in the office, at the school gate, before your gym class – it doesn’t matter where you talk about it, just as long as you do.

Take five

“We know that talking openly about mental health is a vital first step towards breaking down stigma and discrimination,” Baker continues.

“So we are asking people to take five minutes to do just that.

“With major employers, politicians, universities, schools and thousands of individuals taking part, we’ve come a long way towards breaking the silence, but new data shows there is still much further to go until talking about mental health is an ordinary and unremarkable thing to do.”

Breaking the stigma

The data she references points to those 44 per cent of people worried to confide about their mental health to their own loved ones, plus the 40 per cent who say they are currently experiencing stigma and discrimination either weekly or monthly, due to mental health issues, the 66 per cent saying stigma and discrimination has stopped them from socialising, and the 39 per cent saying it’s stops them from having a relationship.

Work to be done

There’s more too; mental illness, and the stigma that can come with it, doesn’t just impact people socially, but professionally too.

Research by YouGov and the Institute of Directors (IoD) last month revealed that one-third of employees say stress and anxiety make it difficult to get their work done, yet fewer than one in 10 businesses (just seven per cent) have discussed emotional wellbeing or mental health with their employees in the last year.

These are figures that clearly do not add up, and that’s something that the IoD hopes to address.

“There may come a time when people are as comfortable talking about their mental health as they are talking about the going to the dentist, but we’re not there yet,” says Simon Walker, director general of the IoD.

Support sources

  • For information and advice on mental illness, visit Mind.org.uk, or call Mind’s information line (open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, except Bank Holidays) on 0300 123 3393, or text 86463.
  •  Samaritans’ helpline is open 24 hours a day, on 08457 90 90 90 (www.samaritans.org).