Supporting patients to improve their mental health

From a rise in social media conversations around self-care to a growing number of public figures and influencers sharing their mental health struggles, we are seeing a paradigm shift in how we talk about mental well-being. And yet, the prevalence of mental health conditions continues to grow, with a considerable number of individuals still not seeking help. Why is that?

We conducted a survey to explore people’s experience in seeking mental health support as well as their attitudes and beliefs about mental health support services to understand what factors are preventing or driving people to seek help. 

Prevalence of mental health conditions

Our survey revealed 47% of individuals have a diagnosed mental health condition, whilst 18% have a diagnosis of two or more conditions. The most common mental health conditions reported were anxiety disorders, such as generalised anxiety disorder, and mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. Individuals were also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and dissociative identity disorder. 

The most common support service used was therapy and counselling services (private and non-private), with 34% of individuals using these services, whilst 10% of people use outpatient services and 7% community support programmes. With the rise of conversation around support for mental health, there has been a surge in popularity towards digital tools that are not only more freely available, but also easier to access. However, these services are potentially underutilised with only 21% of people using mental health helplines, online chats or apps.

Impact on patients' lives

Regardless of whether a person is formally diagnosed with a mental health condition, our mental well-being can affect how we think, feel and act. It can influence how we respond to stress or manage other difficult emotions, how we relate and interact with others and also how we reason and make decisions.

Our survey revealed the most commonly experienced mental symptoms were difficulty concentrating, constant and excessive worrying and restlessness. However, the expanse of symptoms associated with poor mental well-being stretches far beyond just mental or emotional symptoms. Muscle aches and tensions, bowel and bladder problems and insomnia were the most commonly reported physical symptoms related to poor mental health. 

Physical and mental symptoms can both have a significant impact on daily life. The majority of participants reported infrequent or occasional avoidance of situations, places, objects or activities due to anxiety or fear.  Moreover, more than half of people experienced mild to moderate disruption to their work or study. However, the area most impacted by mental health difficulties was social activities and relationships. This might be because symptoms associated with poor mental health can lead a person to feel isolated and therefore cause them to withdraw further from social situations. In addition, people with mental health difficulties may feel they are a burden to their friends and family, which can further put a strain on relationships. In fact, we found  that 41% of individuals were afraid to talk to others about their mental health. This can leave family and friends feeling distanced from their loved ones leading to exacerbated negative emotions, such as anxiety, in both the affected individual and their friends and family. 

So why don’t more people seek support for their mental health and what can we do about it? 

Using the COM-B model of behaviour change, we explored the reasons why people are hesitant to seek support for their mental health and identified the factors preventing and driving individuals to seek help. We can then use this understanding to design behaviour change interventions and techniques to increase help-seeking behaviour amongst individuals with mental health difficulties:

• Changing norms: Providing an example of help-seeking behaviour for people to imitate or modelling talking about mental health can help to reduce stigma around mental health and make reaching out a social norm. For example, a social media influencer talking about their experience with using counselling services normalises discussing mental health and seeking support, helping individuals to feel more comfortable about opening-up and seeking help themselves. 
• Build beliefs about support effectiveness: Many people exhibited some scepticism around the effectiveness of professional support services. This could be due to a lack of understanding of how mental health services, such as therapy or support groups, can help with managing negative emotions and improve quality of life. Providing education on the positive consequences of seeking support, e.g. patient testimonies of the benefits of using mental health support services, will help drive people to engage in help-seeking behaviour. 
• Enablement: Advising on, arranging or providing emotional or practical social support, by relatives, friends, ‘buddies’, or colleagues, can help individuals overcome negative emotions, such as fear or distress, and encourage help-seeking behaviour. For example taking a partner or friend to an appointment or having a partner or friend help prepare for an appointment can reduce anxiety around the appointment, motivating a person to continue seeking professional support.

Whilst our research uncovered beliefs around mental health and motivations for seeking support, there are many environmental factors that could affect whether people seek support outside of friends and family which were not investigated in-depth in this survey. If you want to get a better understanding of patients’ experience in mental health and how to tackle challenges like these in healthcare, please get in touch at hello@redlinestrategic.com.