Record high recovery rate for common mental illness

Half of people completing a course of treatment for conditions including depression and anxiety, recovered from their condition, NHS England has revealed.

This means that a record number of people made a recovery from mental ill health due to NHS talking therapies last year, with the 49.3 per cent of people making a recovery recorded as a seven per cent increase on 2012/13, when records for this service began.

According to NHS Digital, 525,000 people were referred for and completed a course of talking therapy treatment, with 49.3 per cent of people completing IAPT treatment for anxiety or depression recovering from their condition.

Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s National Mental Health Director, said: “More people are getting faster access to increasingly effective NHS mental health care. On key measures like rising funding, high recovery rates, lower waiting times and increased referral numbers, NHS talking therapies are delivering better outcomes for adults with mental ill health.

“The NHS is reversing years of under-investment in mental health, with £1.6 billion extra funding going into local services since 2013. Putting mental health on a level footing with physical care remains a priority for NHS England, and from April this year every part of the country will be required to increase the share of their budgets going towards mental health care. No one would claim that the transformation we all want to see will happen overnight, but with a rising number of people getting successful treatment for common conditions like depression and anxiety, it’s clear that we are making important progress.”