It is fantastic to see the rise and focus on Mental Health Awareness (MHA) days/weeks/months and the spotlight this has brought to the field. But, as someone who has worked to support people with mental illness for over 20 years, I am surprised that all of these campaigns are missing any focus on the leading cause of premature death. This “Scandal of Premature Mortality” is equivalent to a 15-20 year gap in life expectancy for those with mental illness.
What is causing the Scandal of Premature mortality?
You might well be thinking that suicide is the cause of most of these deaths. Yes, it is true that suicide is devastating, and many people die too soon from this. However, research has consistently shown that it is physical health conditions and complications from these that account for in the region of 80% of these early deaths.
Let me illustrate this issue with one physical health condition, cardiovascular disease. Our research analysing data from over 100 million people globally has shown that if you have depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, you are 40% more likely to have cardiovascular disease than people without a mental illness. Worse still, people with these conditions are 50% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 85% more likely to die from these than a person without mental illness.
To make matters worse, some of our other research has shown that if you have a mental illness and cardiovascular disease you are less likely to get the same screening and treatment. A triple whammy.
To make matters more complicated, a lot of our funded research has shown that people with mental illness often people have multiple physical health conditions at once or “Multimorbidity”. Whilst it is a crude measure, we have shown that for every additional physical health condition you increase the risk of early death in a linear manner.
What can we do about this?
That was the whole purpose of our Lancet commission, on how to protect the health of people with mental illness. Integration of physical and mental healthcare is needed. We really need a multifaceted approach that focusses on reducing barriers at societal, systems and individual levels to make equitable treatment for mental illness possible.
A role for physical activity
Leaning towards my own biases, if we look at what is effect for managing cardiovascular disease (or pick any other physical health condition), it is physical activity. In fact, much research has shown that physical activity is as effective as many drug treatments.
When we consider the broader mental health benefits of physical activity, should we not place more of an emphasis on its potential role to help address the mental-physical health of those with mental illness? I believe as part of a wider systems and societal approach, as outlined in our Lancet commission it can play a central role in not only adding years to life but also life to year.
Now getting back to the original theme, should we not place at least some focus on addressing this scandal of premature mortality in MHA campaigns? Could movement play a potential role in such campaigns?
Do let me know what you think.
If you want to gain more insight into physical activity for mental health, do check out my online courses or get in touch to arrange an in person course https://www.drbrendonstubbs.com/2daycourse
Image courtesy of Dr Joe Firth.
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