About 2 or 3 years ago I downloaded an interesting “league table” of “areas” with the “highest incidence of mental health problems” and those with the “lowest incidence of mental health problems”. These “areas” refer to council wards in England. ”Mental health problems” are defined as “adults suffering a mood or anxiety disorder” (eg depression). I became aware of this “league table” when it was referred to on the evening news programme BBC Midlands Today. My download “source” was www.csp.org.uk
Now before I endeavour to throw some light on the position of some 20 council wards in Worcestershire in this “Mental Health League Table”, let me caveat my “evidence base” ie the “league table” as follows. This table may be based on data which is :
- Incomplete
- Misinterpreted, or even wrong
- Out-of-date
It is, nevertheless, interesting that Worcestershire, according to the “Mental Health League Table” has the higest incidence of “adults suffering from mood of anxiety disorders” in the West Midlands (the main reason the orginal news item caught my attention). 20 Worcestershire wards are listed amongst those areas with the “highest incidence of mental health problems”, with Wardon (in Worcester) highest amongst these, and occupying a “position” between 2 inner London areas (Prince’s in Lambeth, and West Hampstead in Camden).
The other Worcestershire wards identified amongst those areas with the “highest incidence of mental healths” problems in England are (local authority area in brackets) :
- Cathedral (Worcester)
- Charford (Bromsgrove)
- Gorse Hill (Worcester)
- Broadwaters (Wyre Forest)
- Droitwich Central (Wychavon)
- Aboretum (Worcester)
- Evesham North (Wychavon)
- St Johns (Bromsgrove)
- Oldington and Foley Park (Wyre Forest)
- Rainbow Hill (Worcester)
- Offmore and Comberton (Wyre Forest)
- Priory (Malvern Hills)
- Nunnery (Worcester)
- Wribbenhall (Wyre Forest)
- Cookley (Wyre Forest)
- Sidemoor (Bromsgrove)
- Pickersleigh (Malvern Hills)
- Link (Malvern Hills)
- Droitwich West (Wychavon)
The above list shows that those Worcestershire council wards which appear amongst those areas with the “highest incidence of mental health problems” in England, are spread through all local authority designations, with the exception of Redditch.
Could it be that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and Minister of Parliament for Redditch, provides a beacon of light in an otherwise gloomy county ? I’ll leave such speculation aside. However, having attended the same university college around the same time as Ms Smith (Yes, I thought I’d get that one in somewhere !), I can testify that the she did seem to be a cheerful person.
Having said this, I have to say that “cheerfulness” is not a quality I generally associate with Worcestershire Woman and Man ! By way of illustration, I avoid travelling on certain bus routes for fear of being given detailed “health (mental and physical) histories” not only for fellow passengers, for also for their family members, pet animals, and even, on occasions, distant relations. These “health histories” often (indeed usually) come from people who appear perfectly healthy, and give every indication of living to a ripe old age.
My uncharitable (no doubt) interpretation is that many, if not most, of the “health historians” have nothing better to think about. Indeed, during the recent flooding, I noted that the subject of personal/family/pet health virtually dropped out of the conversation !
Another problem of Worcestershire Woman and Man is the credulousness with which they generally receive professional opinion and official pronouncements. It is almost certainly the case, for instance, that had I the misfortune to be educated in Worcerstershire today, I should have been diagnosed with some mental deficiency, Attention Deficit Disorder, for instance, statemented for some mild learning difficulty, like dyslexia, and probably left the education system with few or no qualifications.
This predicament would have left me, at best, depressed, and a thereby a contributor to Worcestershire’s high incidence of mental health problems (if the League Table is to be believed !)
Personally, and professionally, I always receive information of the kind to be found in league tables (official and otherwise, unless they refer to ball games) with some skepticism). I apply the same discrimation to government statistics generally, and to government forecasts, in particular. A little Droitwich salt in this context may prove good for both physical and mental health, one’s own and other peoples.
Having said all this, I do think that the apparently “high incidence of mental health problems” in Worcestershire does bear some serious looking into. My guess is that, in addition to those ”conditions” I have already mentioned, one contributory factor is the large amount of unsustainable development that has occured across the County for many years; another is the persistence of a rather backward-looking class consciousness, which the local education system continues to re-inforce. Also local health services may not be very good.
Finally, are people in Worcestershire rather more competitive (I mean socially rather than economically) than the national average, with higher levels of status anxiety as a consequence ? Or is this just another indicator of the New Labour “malaise” : please note my reference to the Home Secretary.
