The New Economic Foundation has a launched its second issue of The New Economics Zine, this time about economics and mental health. We knew before the pandemic that mental health was a problem only getting worse. According to the issue, new research in the last few weeks has shown that anxiety has trebled in young adults since 2008, affecting 30% of women aged 18-24. Our experience of mental ill health is however not equal – factors like race, economic class, gender identity and disability all affect our likelihood of struggling with mental illness. The issue further explains that The Health Survey for England has consistently found that the poorest people have the highest risk of having a mental health problem.
This is why economic crisis makes health inequality worse.
Except the inequality aspects of mental illness, specially during a pandemic, the issue are also bringing up the aspect of stigma and governmental spending. While mental health accounts for 28% of the burden of disease in the UK, mental health services receive only 13% of NHS spending. The issues says; “it’s a reminder that awareness alone is not enough and that, while each of us can make a difference, we need structural not just individual action”.
The first article is just about that, how individualisation and neoliberal thinking makes us believe that it’s just all up to us as individuals. Actually, antidepressant prescriptions have almost doubled over the last 10 years, with a 34% increase in people being detained under the Mental Health Act. As of 2018, one in six of us (UK) is suffering with a mental health problem.
This should indicate a larger societal and structural problem than just individuals not doing enough to keep themselves healthy.
The issue also include articles about climate anxiety and measures of wellbeing. It is a magazine that really captures several aspects of sustainability, mental illness and economics in relation or not in relation to current crisis. It’s easily read and there’s a diversity of writes with different background and expertise.