Psychology
There’s a clear economic argument for spending on mental health.
A clear economic argument for spending on mental health.
is the season to be jolly, etc. Although it’s not Christmas, election year means an early visit from Santa for some of us.
I wonder how excited Health Minister Jonathan Coleman was on Budget day, unwrapping about $3.9 billion for “district health boards, care and support workers, disability support services, ambulance services, pharmaceuticals, elective surgery, bowel screening, mental health services and primary healthcare”.
As I read that in the Treasury’s “Budget at a Glance” summary of the Government’s latest spending plan, I almost missed the mental-health mention near the bottom of the list. Media coverage over the past couple of months has been suggesting that’s exactly where mental health is seen in the priority list. Mental health gets an extra $224 million over the next four years, which is just 6% of the overall health-spending boost.
Let’s put this in perspective. In 2001, depression and anxiety were identified as the two highestranked diseases in terms of years lost to disability. The Ministry of Health estimates the economic and social costs of intentional loss of life in New Zealand to be almost $2 billion a year, about equal to half of the new investment in health. The Rangatahi Suicide Prevention Fund got a boost of $8 million over four years on top of this. This compares with the estimated cost of the loss of a single life through suicide of more than $2 million.
Piecing together the
Budget is clearly not simple.
A dollar for health means a dollar not spent somewhere else. And a dollar spent can often produce a much bigger return.
Two evaluations of the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project (YMHP), established in 2012 with about $64 million invested over four years, illustrate the payback on money spent in this area. The project set out to improve access to treatment, provide early identification of mild/moderate mental-health issues, be more supportive of schools, give better access to appropriate information and improve knowledge of what works to strengthen systems and processes. Over the project’s four years, according to the evaluators, more than 180,000 young people participated in its various initiatives and almost 1800 are expected to show the benefits of actual improvement in mental health over 10 years. This may not sound like a lot, but for those individuals, it will be a big deal. The economic analysis estimates that for every dollar spent, there’s up to $1.60 of social benefits. In the context of the numbers above, each $1 million spent on the YMHP means between 31 and 35 years of life free from mental health issues. Yes, mental health is expensive.
The economic analysis estimates that for every dollar spent, there’s up to $1.60 of social benefits.
One thing that appears to be missing from the YMHP initiatives is a focus on parents. The ability of schools to deal with mental health is important – in US schools, it is not uncommon for there to be a dedicated psychologist – but boosting parenting abilities is the quickest route to better well-being of all kinds.
So let’s finish with an invitation. A group of researchers I lead at Victoria University is asking parents to take part in a confidential online survey about adolescent self-injury and youth well-being. I will summarise the results of this Youth Well-being Study in a future column as well as in scientific journal articles and conference presentations. I would love to have your help.
For more information, visit tinyurl. com/PES17L or email youthwellbeing@vuw.ac.nz.