Reducing the inequality gap between the rich and the poor will have a beneficial effect on both individual and collective mental well-being, so much so that all public policy should be assessed for its "mental health impact", argues a new report.
At a time of public concern over excessive earnings, City pensions and rising unemployment, "Mental Health, Resilience and Inequalities", written for the World Health Organisation (Europe), reveals how the gap between rich and poor affects the mental health of individuals by causing psychological and physiological changes.
It argues that mental health should be regarded as a public health issue key to understanding wider health, economic and social problems.
The report, supported by the Mental Health Foundation, the Child Poverty Action Group, the Faculty for Public Health and the National Institute for Mental Health in England, concludes that the "pursuit of economic growth at the price of greater inequality will lead to a 'social recession' that is not sustainable".
Author and mental health promotion specialist Dr Lynne Friedli says that reducing inequalities must be seen as integral to economic development, and recommends that, given the central importance of mental health to the wider functioning of society, all future public policy is assessed for its "mental health impact".
She added: "We have to face up to the fact that individual and collective mental health and well-being depends on reducing the gap between rich and poor. A large divide leads to a mentally unhealthy society, and many associated social problems. In the UK in particular, we’ve failed to acknowledge this link, preferring instead to blame the health and social conditions of those living on or near the poverty line on their own lifestyle choices."
Drawing together the latest research on the damaging effects of living in an unequal society, the report explains that inequality is now known to be a constant trigger to the "fight or flight" response in human beings.
Over time, this perpetual stress is thought to get "under the skin" and lead to permanently raised levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, as well as causing depression, higher blood pressure and other biological changes associated with stress and poor mental health. These reactions can be explained by the highly social nature of human beings and their acute sensitivity to social position and status, says the report.
It argues that mental health is the lynchpin between economic and social conditions. Poor mental health experienced by individuals is a significant cause of wider social and health problems.
It cites the example of children in the UK and the US – the most unequal societies in the developed world - who show the highest levels of teenage pregnancy, violence, mental illness, imprisonment and the lowest levels of educational attainment. Research also shows that groups with the same income levels, be they high or low, will have better mental and physical health in more equal countries than in more unequal ones.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said that while inequalities have widened in the UK in recent years, mental health "seems" to have worsened. "Now we’re beginning to understand how these two trends might be linked, and how living with inequality can have very real effects on the mind and body. Given the huge social costs of poor mental health, it’s vital we begin to treat it as a public health priority."
Dr Ian McPherson, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in England, said the report "underlines the need to improve policies and programmes at European, national and local levels to better the mental health and well being of populations".