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Mental Illness and Unhappiness

Author

Listed:
  • Layard, Richard

    (London School of Economics)

  • Chisholm, Dan

    (World Health Organization)

  • Patel, Vikram

    (Harvard University)

  • Saxena, Shekhar

    (World Health Organization)

Abstract
This paper is a contribution to the second World Happiness Report. It makes five main points. 1. Mental health is the biggest single predictor of life-satisfaction. This is so in the UK, Germany and Australia even if mental health is included with a six-year lag. It explains more of the variance of life-satisfaction in the population of a country than physical health does, and much more than unemployment and income do. Income explains 1% of the variance of life-satisfaction or less. 2. Much the most common forms of mental illness are depression and anxiety disorders. Rigorously defined, these affect about 10% of all the world’s population – and prevalence is similar in rich and poor countries. 3. Depression and anxiety are more common during working age than in later life. They account for a high proportion of disability and impose major economic costs and financial losses to governments worldwide. 4. Yet even in rich countries, under a third of people with diagnosable mental illness are in treatment. 5. Cost-effective treatments exist, with recovery rates of 50% or more. In rich countries treatment is likely to have no net cost to the Exchequer due to savings on welfare benefits and lost taxes. But even in poor countries a reasonable level of coverage could be obtained at a cost of under $2 per head of population per year.

Suggested Citation

  • Layard, Richard & Chisholm, Dan & Patel, Vikram & Saxena, Shekhar, 2013. "Mental Illness and Unhappiness," IZA Discussion Papers 7620, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7620
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. Laynard & D. Clark & M. Knapp & G. Mayraz, 2007. "Cost-benefit analysis of psychological therapy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 202(1), pages 90-98, October.
    2. Knapp, Martin & McDaid, David & Parsonage, Michael, 2011. "Mental health promotion and mental illness prevention: the economic case," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 32311, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Richard Layard & Andrew E. Clark & Francesca Cornaglia & Nattavudh Powdthavee & James Vernoit, 2014. "What Predicts a Successful Life? A Life‐course Model of Well‐being," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(580), pages 720-738, November.
    4. McDaid, David & Park, A-La, 2011. "Investing in mental health and well-being: findingsfrom the DataPrev project," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 39875, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2011. "Destined for (Un)Happiness: Does Childhood Predict Adult Life Satisfaction?," IZA Discussion Papers 5819, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Layard, R. & Clark, D. & Knapp, M. & Mayraz, G., 2007. "Cost-benefit analysis of psychological therapy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 202, pages 90-98, October.
    7. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/6ggbvnr6munghes9oc90kh192 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6ggbvnr6munghes9oc90kh192 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Johnston, David W. & Schurer, Stefanie & Shields, Michael A., 2011. "Evidence on the Long Shadow of Poor Mental Health across Three Generations," IZA Discussion Papers 6014, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Mental Illness and Unhappiness
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2013-11-27 18:47:13
    2. Mental Illness and Unhappiness
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2013-10-15 18:42:53
    3. Non-issues
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-02-05 20:23:46

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Martijn Burger & Martijn Hendriks & Elena Ianchovichina, 2022. "Happy but Unequal: Differences in Subjective Well-Being across Individuals and Space in Colombia," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1343-1387, June.
    2. Powell-Jackson, Timothy & Pereira, Shreya K. & Dutt, Varun & Tougher, Sarah & Haldar, Kaveri & Kumar, Paresh, 2016. "Cash transfers, maternal depression and emotional well-being: Quasi-experimental evidence from India’s Janani Suraksha Yojana programme," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 210-218.
    3. Lordan, Grace & Stringer, Eliza-Jane, 2022. "People versus machines: The impact of being in an automatable job on Australian worker’s mental health and life satisfaction," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    4. Strulik, Holger, 2019. "An economic theory of depression and its impact on health behavior and longevity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 269-287.
    5. Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2024. "Social Identity and Depression Among the Elderly: Evidence from India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1466, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Yu Xin & Xiaohui Ren, 2020. "Social Capital as a Mediator through the Effect of Education on Depression and Obesity among the Elderly in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Christopher J Boyce & Liam Delaney & Alex M Wood, 2018. "The Great Recession and subjective well-being: How did the life satisfaction of people living in the United Kingdom change following the financial crisis?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Dawid Majcherek & Arkadiusz Michał Kowalski & Małgorzata Stefania Lewandowska, 2022. "Lifestyle, Demographic and Socio-Economic Determinants of Mental Health Disorders of Employees in the European Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-22, September.
    9. Luciana Méndez, 2017. "So dissatisfied to leave? The role of perceptions, expectations and beliefs on youths' intention to migrate," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 17-12, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    10. Christopher Barrington-Leigh, 2016. "Sustainability and Well-Being: A Happy Synergy," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 59(3), pages 292-298, December.
    11. Zhou, Weina & Wang, Shun, 2023. "Early childhood health shocks, classroom environment, and social-emotional outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mental illness; welfare benefits; healthcare costs; life-satisfaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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