13 January 2025
Ex Prime-Minister Sir Tony Blair’s recent comments during the podcast ‘Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future’ touch on an important conversation about how we approach mental health.
Sir Tony said: “Life has its ups and downs and everybody experiences those. And you’ve got to be careful of encouraging people to think they’ve got some sort of condition other than simply confronting the challenges of life.
“We need a proper public conversation about this because you really cannot afford to be spending the amount of money we’re spending on mental health. And the ramp-up of that just in these last few years has been dramatic.”
He added: “You’ve got to be careful of translating those [challenges] into a mental health condition and losing your own agency, in a way, to govern your own life.”
These comments from such a high-profile public figure risk undermining the needs of those living with serious mental illnesses (SMIs), including bipolar.
The rising demand for mental health support is not merely the result of over-self-diagnosis or over-medicalisation. Many people in the UK are living with an undiagnosed mental health condition, stemming from a systemic failure to identify and treat serious conditions early enough.
People with bipolar wait, on average, 9.5 years for a correct diagnosis. This delay has profound human and economic consequences, with bipolar-related suicides alone costing the UK between £436 million and £872 million annually. People living with untreated bipolar typically struggle with debilitating symptoms, including low energy and motivation during periods of depression, and impulsive spending, hypersexual behaviour and irritability during periods of hypomania.
For these people, dismissive rhetoric about the “ups and downs” of mental health risks further delays in diagnosis and care.
Naturally, the government must ensure that resources are focused effectively. The rise in mental health-related benefit claims signals systemic issues, not solely in welfare policy but in the accessibility and adequacy of specialist mental health care.
Too often, people are left in limbo without the right diagnosis, care or employment support. For individuals with bipolar, there is a clear need for tailored measures, including early intervention pathways, training for healthcare professionals to recognise bipolar symptoms and the expansion of bipolar-specific services, such as psychoeducation and psychological therapies.
The pandemic magnified existing gaps in the system but also underscored the importance of treating mental health with the same seriousness as physical health. Far from being an unaffordable expense, targeted investment in mental health services represents a long-term cost-saving opportunity.
Ensuring early diagnosis, access to specialist care and proven interventions like Individual Placement and Support (IPS) are available for people with SMIs will reduce the need for more expensive crisis care, lower benefit dependency and improve employment outcomes.
By funnelling funds into evidence-based solutions, the government will not only deliver better outcomes for individuals and their families, but also ease the long-term economic burden of untreated serious mental illnesses, including bipolar.
We call on policymakers to engage with evidence-based solutions. Reducing mental health spending without addressing these structural challenges will harm those who need help the most and ultimately increase costs. It is crucial that bipolar is a priority in any upcoming reforms.
Last Updated 13th January 2025