City Research Online

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many people with Common Mental Disorders (CMDs), especially men, people from older age groups, and ethnic minority backgrounds, receive no treatment. Self-acknowledgement of mental illness symptoms, and a professional diagnosis are usually required to access treatment. To understand barriers, we therefore tested whether these groups were relatively less likely to self-diagnose a CMD, or to receive a professional diagnosis.

METHODS: We analysed data from the 2014 English Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS). We used regression models to examine whether gender, age, and minority ethnic status were associated with professional and self-diagnosis, after controlling for CMD symptoms.

RESULTS: 27.3 % of the population reported a professional and self-diagnosis of CMD, 15.9 % a self- diagnosis only, and the remainder no diagnosis. Odds of professional diagnosis were lower for men compared with women (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.54, 95 % confidence intervals [CI] 0.47-0.62). People from White Other (0.49, 0.36-0.67), Black (0.31, 0.18-0.51), and Asian (0.22, 0.15-0.33) groups were less likely than the White British group to receive a professional diagnosis. The least likely age group to have a professional CMD diagnosis (relative to adults aged 16-34) were people aged over 75 (0.52, 0.39-0.69). Patterns were similar for self-diagnosis.

LIMITATIONS: Ethnicity categories were heterogeneous. Data are cross-sectional, and selection and response bias are possible.

CONCLUSIONS: For every three people who self-diagnose CMD, two have a professional diagnosis. Men, ethnic minority, and older age groups are less likely to receive a diagnosis or self-diagnose after adjustment for presence of symptoms.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Publisher Keywords:	Diagnosis, Common Mental Disorders, Ethnicity, Age, Gender
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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