Medics ‘stuck in past over mental health’
THE MEDICAL profession is stuck in a “20th century mindset” when it comes to mental health, a university leader has said.
More must be done to promote healthy lifestyles than can help reduce the impact of issues such as anxiety and depression, according to Sir Anthony Seldon.
Speaking at a conference on mental health and wellbeing in London, Sir Anthony, vice-chancellor of the private Buckingham University, said: “With some bright exceptions, the medical establishment is locked into a 20th century mindset. Its standard approach is to prescribe expensive medical treatment and medication, with middling impact.
“Doing so is neglecting a considerable body of evidence from professional bodies and universities about more effective preventative interventions.
“If you go back 30 years, we knew little about what wellbeing was, how to measure it, how to teach it, and to how to assess the impact of those interventions. The position today is utterly transformed. The medical and psychiatric establishment in Britain is still overwhelmingly in a 20th century reactive mindset.
“The approach is to wait for mental and emotional problems to manifest and then to rush in once breakdowns have occurred. But they should be giving their attention to addressing the issue much earlier before problems become chronic.”
Sir Anthony said after the conference that the NHS could do more to support and promote work that teaches people how to live physically and mentally healthy lifestyles.
There is a growing body of evidence which shows that measures such as volunteering, getting involved in social action, regular exercise and building grit and resilience can help to tackle mental health issues, he argued.
It is important that medical professionals still do their current work, Sir Anthony said, but added that too many people are “ignoring the very significant body of evidence that shows that we can delay, mitigate, reduce the onset of these terribly debilitating mental illnesses by the building of human capacity”.
Earlier this year, Theresa May set out a package of reforms to tackle the “stigma” around mental illness.
The measures included a focus on young people with additional training for teachers. Figures suggest that over half of mental health problems start by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by 18.
The total economic and social cost of mental illness is around £105bn and one in four people has a common mental disorder at any time, the Government has said.
Last month, Prince Harry spoke about his problems coping with his mother’s death, revealing in a interview that he spent nearly 20 years “not thinking” about his mother’s death and eventually got help after two years of “total chaos”.