Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health

The 2007 Annual Report of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England highlights a continuing fall in the overall suicide rate, but also concludes that:

• There were 145 suicides among mental health in-patients in 2005 compared with 157 in 2004.
• There were 1277 suicides among people in contact with mental health services in 2005, compared to 1308 in 2004.
• There were 82 self inflicted deaths in prisons in 2007/08 compared with 71 in 06/07.
• While much progress has been made in the reporting of suicide by the media, many journalists and editors remain unaware of either general or in-house reporting guidelines on suicide.

Over 3000 people affected by mental health problems across England took part in the largest ever survey about stigma and discrimination. 87% of people said they had direct personal experience of stigma and discrimination. The results are presented in Stigma Shout .

Stigma Shout is helping to shape the Moving People programme and in particular the national anti-stigma marketing campaign.

A new report published today by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health, with support from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Mind, Rethink and Stand to Reason, shows that one in five MPs has experience of a mental health problem but fears disclosing this because of the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health issues.

An anonymous questionnaire revealed that:

• 27% had personal experience of a mental health problem
• 94% had family or friends who have experienced a mental health problem
• 86% of MPs said their job was stressful
• 1 in 3 said work-based stigma and the expectation of a hostile reaction from the media and public prevented them from being open about mental health issues

The Parliamentary Group has made recommendations including the repeal of laws that prevent people with experience of mental health problems from standing for Parliament and enouraging MPs and Peers to be more open about their experiences of mental health problems.

The Department of Health has released the report of the latest attitudes to mental illness survey. People are broadly sympathetic to those with mental health problems but some attitudes are worse.

Since last year there have been some improvements – more think people with mental illness have been subject to ridicule for too long and fewer think it is easy to distinguish people with mental health problems.

Mental Health Media, Mind and Rethink - the Moving People coalition - have launched a national survey to understand the stigma people with mental health problems face and the best way to tackle it. If you are a carer or have experienced mental health problems, fill in the survey at http://www.movingpeople.org.uk/survey/ before 22 February.

£18 million has been awarded to Moving People, a partnership of mental health charities led by Mental Health Media, Mind, Rethink, and the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London by the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief.

It is hoped the four-year programme will reach some 30 million people across England and will include a nationwide campaign to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health.

These are the results of the latest survey by the Department of Health. The survey covers attitudes to care, relationships, capacity, community and publicity about mental illness and demonstrates the level of stigma that people with mental health problems face.

A new report by the DRC's Mental Health Advisory Group (MHAG), 'Coming Together: Mental Health, Equality and Human Rights', sets out a series recommendations which it believes could help the CEHR significantly reduce social exclusion.

MHAG believes that the CEHR has the potential to break this vicious cycle by addressing mental health and equality across all its programmes of work.

'Coming Together' is available to download from the DRC website.