Mental health services have always been hard to see and therefore easier to cut.
Those who face mental health issues are often reluctant to talk to friends and family (and sometimes even their own doctor) partly because of the stigma that still lingers around the subject. That can leave the scale of the issue relatively invisible compared to other more obvious national health problems, such as obesity.
But we should be in no doubt about the scale of the problem. Last year, the ScotCen Social Research study for the Scottish Government found more than one quarter of people have experienced a mental health issue and of those, 47 per cent said they would not want anyone to know about it.
It is also likely the national problem is getting worse, not better. The most recent research suggests one in three GP consultations relate, in whole or in part, to a patient's mental health, and austerity and recession are likely to have played their part in driving up those disturbing figures. It is axiomatic that when people struggle financially for long periods, the worry and stress often take their toll on their mental health.
So what is being done about it? The answer is that, partly because of the austerity that is contributing to mental health problems in the first place, the services that help sufferers have been under constant and prolonged threat. And the news is not improving, with new figures showing that funding for mental health research has fallen by as much as 85 per cent since the SNP took power.
The detail of the figures is striking: while Government spending on mental health research reached £3million in 2007/8 and £4million the following year, it fell to an annual figure of £1.5million over the next three years, before rising again to £2.3million in 2012/13. It then dropped to less than £1m over the last two financial years.
There will be no improvement in this financial year either, with the Scottish Government so far having committed £526,000 to mental health research. The Government says it understands the importance of such research and the need for equal priority to be given the mental and physical health, but its actions appear to tell a different story. In the words of the Labour MSP, Dr Richard Simpson, who has worked in mental health research, encouraging good research is one way of demonstrating that mental health truly is a priority - instead, funding is being dramatically scaled back.
To make matters worse, this is happening when other mental health services are also under unbearable strain because of the local government spending squeeze. Glasgow City Council, for example, must save £100million over three years and one of the services it has targeted is the Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH), which is facing a 40 per cent cut in it spending - a reduction which could force it to shut down altogether.
The Scottish Government could help protect such services by ending the council tax freeze, which is no longer justifiable, but it must also demonstrate that mental health really is a top priority by properly funding mental health research. We all know the effect that obesity and heart disease have in Scotland, but mental health problems also have a profound effect on well-being and life expectancy. The Scottish Government should be investing in those who are trying to do something about it.
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