During the course of the year, one in four members of the UK’s population will experience a mental health problem such as anxiety or depression that could benefit from psychological therapy.
The NHS’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme was created to address this problem, but currently has the capacity to meet just 15% of demand.
At present, 10% of those people referred to the IAPT programme are waiting for over a year for treatment, and in a recent survey of patients who have attempted to access therapy in the last two years, it was found that 67% deteriorated, 40% harmed themselves and 1 in 6 attempted to take their own life while waiting for treatment.
And demand is predicted to grow in the coming years. The Mental Health Foundation estimates that by 2030 there will be around 2 million more adults in the UK suffering with mental health problems.
So what’s the solution? Find out more about the issues faced by IAPT system and read about Mayden’s thoughts on a potential solution by reading our recent white paper, Is it time for a sea change in the uptake of online psychological therapies?
