The director of the british heart foundation, Dr. Mike Knapton, has stated that Radical changes in medicine should take place to prevent people with mental health problems from dying too young because of preventable diseases.
Health systems focus on treating physical health rather than mental health because outcomes are easier to measure, says Mike Knapton:
“We are doing a disservice to patients and the National Health System if we do not remedy this. Mental and physical health are related and it is evident in the fact that GPs spend a third of their time treating people with mental problems ”.
People with mental disorders are more likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes and cardiovascular accidents because it is often more difficult for them to lead a healthy lifestyle. Regarding the establishment of healthy living guidelines, studies have revealed that some psychiatric services recognize that offering advice to improve physical health is not a fundamental part of their work.
It is surprising that people with severe mental illness are, in some cases, three to four times more likely to die prematurely compared to the general population. This means something and not only about mental health services, but also about how we treat people with mental illness. This has to change.
30 thousand people with mental health problems die unnecessarily each year in the United States.
The statistics are quite overwhelming; people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, are two to three times more likely to die from coronary problems than the rest of the population.
Most people do not die from their mental illness but from something else. Since physical illness is also associated with depression and anxiety (which often go unnoticed and make it difficult for the patient to recover), the British Heart Foundation has included psychological support and advice on healthy habits in its cardiac rehabilitation program. This new program has achieved a 26% reduction in the mortality rate of these patients.
“If you have a coronary disease, you are more prone to mental illness. After an event such as a heart attack, about 20% will experience a major depressive episode as mental illness is two to three times more common in people with cardiovascular problems. "
Article written by Nuria Álvarez. More information about Nuria here