Sue Baker, Director of Time to Change, England’s national anti-discrimination campaign led by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, said:

“The findings present a mixed picture of public attitudes towards mental health issues in England with some improvements over the last year as well as less progress with other statements. 

“Changing social norms and public attitudes and behaviour is a long term goal that will need continued efforts and investment for many years to come.  We have been tracking the impact of the Time to Change campaign on our core target audience and have seen more improvements amongst the general public when they are aware of the campaign.

“We have started to drive more open disclosure of mental heath problems as a way of improving public attitudes, so it is encouraging to see more people have said they would be willing to talk to their family and friends and to their employer about mental health problems.

“As well as a focus on improving public attitudes and increased disclosure we need to continue to focus on improving the way the public are behaving towards those of us with mental health problems.  It will be important to compare the next set of data from the Viewpoint survey of experienced discrimination with this latest data on public attitudes to see if the reported discrimination has changed over the same time period.”

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of the mental health charity Mind, said:

“These latest figures show that some significant progress has been made around tackling stigma and discrimination but shifting people’s perceptions of mental health is the task of a generation. It is clear that the Time to Change campaign is hitting home amongst its target audience, with those who have seen the campaign showing a more enlightened attitude towards mental health. However, there is still a long way to go and these findings are a reminder that this is a challenge which won’t be solved overnight but which it is essential we overcome.”

Paul Jenkins, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said:  

“Whilst we welcome the improvement in attitudes, there is still some way to go towards acceptance than people with a mental illness should be treated in the same way as someone with a physical health problem.

“Even more important than people’s attitudes is tangible behaviour change.  As part of Time to Change, we are tracking people’s actual experiences of stigma and discrimination and the early signs are that behaviour has changed for the better.  What really matters is whether people are able to work and socialise like anyone else rather than being barred from everyday life because they have a mental illness.”

For more information, comment or interviews please contact Jenny Tudor, Media & PR Officer on 020 8215 2358 or 07789 721 966.