News Release, 10 April 2001
One in four people only find out that their friend is experiencing mental health problems when that person is admitted to hospital, while a further five per cent only become aware following a friend's attempted suicide, according to a new report from The Mental Health Foundation.
Is Anybody There? a survey of friendship and mental health, is published by the Mental Health Foundation on Tuesday 17 April 2001 to mark Mental Health Action Week which takes place from 16-22 April 2001. The 56-page report, based on the responses of 543 people, looks at the experiences of both people with mental health problems and those of people who supported friends with mental health problems.
Is Anybody There? found that friendship was a major source of support to anybody experiencing mental distress - with three out of four respondents (75%) stating that support was received from a network of friends, as against 57% from mental health services and 52% from GPs for example. However, many people experiencing mental health problems were very concerned about telling friends.
"We know that being accepted by your friends is one of the most important positive factors for anybody experiencing mental health problems," said Ruth Lesirge, chief executive, Mental Health Foundation, "but we all still need to do more to ensure that people feel able to talk to their friends when they first need support.
"We should also acknowledge that the very significant support that friends provide may prove demanding to them."
Telling friends, and how they reacted
34% of respondents felt that they could tell only a few or no friends about their mental distress, whereas only 28% said that they could tell most of their friends. Nearly four in ten (39%) were worried about telling friends because they thought they might not understand, did not want to be seen as a burden, or believed friends would be frightened because of the stigma attached to mental health problems.
One respondent wrote: "I avoid making friends because of my illness. I also think some friends from school have not kept in touch because they heard through the grapevine that I had mental problems," and a third of people felt that their friendships became strained or were lost because of their mental distress.
Providing support
Although nine out of ten people reported that they were able to provide some form of support to friends experiencing mental health problems, nearly six out of ten (58%) stated that they felt the need for support in this role, with the primary needs being for better information, awareness and knowledge of mental health problems and the opportunity to talk things through with somebody.
One respondent reported "utter shock and despair, and due to lack of information did not know what to do and how to react."
More than four out of ten (43%) of those giving support stated that the emotional strain sometimes became too much, particularly when linked to their own mental health problems.
The support providing by friends was primarily staying in contact and providing emotional and listening support, "Being there with me when I am lousy company. Being able to support, recognise and celebrate my strengths and abilities, not just help with problems." Almost half of those people who talked about their own experience of mental health problems (43%) reported that friends provided practical support with transport, childcare, housework, finances or attending appointments and more than one in ten (11%) reported that friends were acting as informal advocates. A number of people, both friends and people with personal experience of mental health problems, report that friendships were strengthened as a result of the support that was given/received.
"It has developed into a much closer, trusting relationship. We now discuss any issue that is of concern - whereas before there were grey subjects that you did not approach. There is an honesty and trust between us that is now much deeper."
When respondents writing about their own experience of mental health problems were asked what they most wanted from their friends, the most common unprompted answer (61%) was to stay as friends, keep in touch and spend time with them; (56%) wanted acceptance, understanding and a non-judgemental approach; and 27% wanted friends to listen and talk to them.
Recommendations
Is Anybody There? recommends that:
- Information about mental health should be part of the school curriculum from an early age in order to provide children with the skills and knowledge to understand mental health and mental health problems.
- The National Carers Strategy needs to recognise the role of friends as informal carers and to ensure that people can access support for their caring role within their own communities.
- The Disability Rights Commission should give priority to addressing discrimination in relation to people with mental health needs.
- There should be greater access to talking treatments. More than one in three people supporting someone with mental distress themselves wanted a professional to talk to.
- There is a need for more positive images in the media of people with mental health problems, particularly for diagnoses such as schizophrenia. The media must recognise that using negative language will further encourage discrimination.
- All GPs should have on-going training to develop their understanding of mental health problems and their impact on people's lives. GPs should be trained to enable those experiencing mental distress and their informal carers to develop their own strategies for coping with mental distress and to locate alternative sources of help.
Return to news releases 2001
For further information and interview requests contact please contact the press office on 020 7803 1105 / 1128 or email the press office
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