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Is concern justified? Problems of definition and prevalence 29Table 1.1: Prevalence of mental illness among adults in the general populationType of mental illness Rate Source of dataMixed anxiety anddepressive disorder8.8% Singleton et al. 2001 (based on data from theGeneral Household Survey)Generalised anxiety 4.4% Singleton et al. 2001disorderDepression 2.5–6.6% Singleton et al. 2001; Kandal et al. 2000; Kessleret al. 2003Phobia 3.5% Singleton et al. 2001Obsessive compulsive 3.3% Singleton et al. 2001; Hollander 1997disorderPanic disorder 0.7% Singleton et al. 2001Schizophrenia 0.5–1.0% Office for National Statistics 2006a; Singleton et al.2001Personality disorder 4.4–13.4% Singleton et al. 2001; Torgersen et al. 2001; Coidand Yang 2006Postnatal depression 9–27% O’Hara 1999; Royal College of Psychiatrists 2010;Netmums 2005It is encouraging to note that the proportion of people receiving treatment formental health difficulties has increased from 14% in 1993 to 24% in 2000. Inthe main this was the result of a doubling in the proportion of those receivingmedication, whereas access to psychological treatment has remained constant (Officefor National Statistics 2005).The picture is complicated because mental illness frequently exists alongside otherdisorders. For example, US research indicates that half of those with a diagnosisof schizophrenia (Swofford et al. 2000) and nearly a third of those with a mooddisorder also misused or were dependent upon alcohol or drugs (Regier et al. 1990).The work of Rosenthal and Westreich (1999) in the US also suggests that half ofindividuals who experience alcohol or drug problems or mental health disorderswill have two or more of these disorders over their lifetime. Work in the UnitedKingdom which focused on those attending mental health services found 44% ofpatients self-reported problem use of drugs and/or were assessed to have used alcoholat hazardous or harmful levels in the previous year (Weaver et al. 2002).Research would suggest that 30% of adults with a mental disorder have dependentchildren and 7% live in lone-parent households (Falkov 1998; Melzer 2003). Thereare an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 children and young people in the UK caring fora parent with a severe mental illness (Mental Health Foundation 2010). The OPCSsurvey (Office of Population and Censuses and Surveys 1996), which broke down