Managing finances can be stressful, and it is common to have financial difficulties affect our mental health. In the last year, 22% of those who took part in a survey attributed high levels of stress to debt worries.
I was diagnosed with bipolar in my late teens, in my first year at university. The diagnosis (and not – I hasten to add – the symptoms) have shaped my adult identity and experiences.
The largest coalition of organisations to date on this issue has signed a joint open letter to the Prime Minster calling on him not to go ahead with the planned £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, due to come into effect on 6 October 2021.
A letter to the current and future Prime Minister: There has been significant attention this month on the current cost-of-living crisis and the likelihood of a recession, which could last for years. But so far, there has been no recognition of the risk this poses to the nation’s mental health.
The Coronavirus: Mental Health in the Pandemic study provides unique insights into the mental health effects of the pandemic since mid-March, with five waves of data collected so far across the UK specifically focused on mental health and well-being.
Before the early 1990s, the prevalence of mental illness in England was unknown. The data simply didn’t exist, especially in relation to undiagnosed or untreated conditions. To address this gap, the Department of Health commissioned social researchers, psychiatrists and epidemiologists to design the first survey to rigorously assess mental illness in a random sample of the general population.
The Mental Health Foundation is issuing a stark warning about the mental health impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, as more than a third of adults in Northern Ireland felt anxious about their personal finances in the past month.
