You may also like to view our pages on anxiety, depression and psychosis.

Facts and Figures for RBKC

• RBKC  ranks 4^th highest in the country for the proportion of people known to have severe and enduring mental illness (SMI)such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
• The incidence of SMI is more prevalent in the north of the borough
• The borough has a higher than average number of people with common mental health issues (CMI) such as depression and anxiety
• Prescribing for anti-depressants is nearly 50% higher in the north of the borough
• Just over 2,200 people are registered with GPs as having severe and enduring mental health illness, the 4^th highest GP practice prevalence in the country
• About 1/3^rd of cases of depression and ½ of anxiety are undiagnosed nationally and this is likely to be the same in the borough
• It is estimated that there are approximately4,00 -  5,000 people in the borough with depression at any one time, 7,000 – 8,000 with anxiety and a significant number with other disorders. Around 90% of people with common mental illnesses are seen by professionals in primary care settings
• With the growth in primary care counselling services for depression, the level of diagnosis and treatment are likely to rise

Issues affecting BME communities in RBKC

• Black people are twice as likely to be using mental health inpatient services as white people, even after accounting for the ethnic profile of where they live
• Of those known to local mental health inpatient services, 57% are men and 43% are women. They have a younger profile than other services and Black people are twice as over-represented in inpatient services
• Day hospital services do not appear to meet the need in the north of the borough, where most BME residents live
• A local audit found that over 1/3^rd of BME inpatient admissions occurred via the police, while white people were more likely to be brought in by their families
• Residents from Black ethnic groups generally suffer poorer health than average, partly because they are more likely to be ‘living in positions of material disadvantage’
• Mental health problems in BME communities have been on the increase in recent years, and while this has secured national attention, there are still huge gaps in mental health services; particularly around mental health awareness and promotion that seeks to reduce the stigma of mental health in BME communities
• The mental health needs of the hugely dicverse BME community in RBKC are complex and varied and may not fit well within the existing statutory framework
• Different communities have different coping mechanisms. Members of many minority ethnic communities fear the stigma attached to mental ill health and this influences their decision whether to acknowledge the problem and seek treatment, or to conceal it
• In many of these communities, psychological stress is viewed as ‘madness, which may be incurable.’  The implication of this is that there is little point in seeking treatment and mental distress must be endured as part of living in a minority situation in the UK
• Social exclusion is both a source and a consequence of mental ill health. Minority ethnic communities experience the social exclusion of poverty, unemployment and lack of support from statutory services
• GPs are usually the first port of call for those experiencing mental as well as physical health problems. Problems with communicating with doctors are caused both by linguistic and cultural barriers, but also by the time constraints set on individual patient consultations
• Women from BME communities who need to access mental health care may suppress their needs and try to cope where they may lack childcare support at times when services are available
• The result of all this is that deteriorating mental health often goes undetected until it has become severe and as a result, BME patients are over-represented in acute care, and under-represented at the counselling or psychiatric therapy stages

Source: Planning for the future – K&C JSNA Summary Report