mental health problems research title

Research Topics & Ideas: Mental Health

100+ Mental Health Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

If you’re just starting out exploring mental health topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of mental health-related research topics and ideas.

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Mental Health Topic Ideas

• Mood disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Psychotic disorders
• Personality disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Eating disorders
• Substance-related disorders

Mood Disorders

Research in mood disorders can help understand their causes and improve treatment methods. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

• The impact of genetics on the susceptibility to depression
• Efficacy of antidepressants vs. cognitive behavioural therapy
• The role of gut microbiota in mood regulation
• Cultural variations in the experience and diagnosis of bipolar disorder
• Seasonal Affective Disorder: Environmental factors and treatment
• The link between depression and chronic illnesses
• Exercise as an adjunct treatment for mood disorders
• Hormonal changes and mood swings in postpartum women
• Stigma around mood disorders in the workplace
• Suicidal tendencies among patients with severe mood disorders

Anxiety Disorders

Research topics in this category can potentially explore the triggers, coping mechanisms, or treatment efficacy for anxiety disorders.

• The relationship between social media and anxiety
• Exposure therapy effectiveness in treating phobias
• Generalised Anxiety Disorder in children: Early signs and interventions
• The role of mindfulness in treating anxiety
• Genetics and heritability of anxiety disorders
• The link between anxiety disorders and heart disease
• Anxiety prevalence in LGBTQ+ communities
• Caffeine consumption and its impact on anxiety levels
• The economic cost of untreated anxiety disorders
• Virtual Reality as a treatment method for anxiety disorders

Psychotic Disorders

Within this space, your research topic could potentially aim to investigate the underlying factors and treatment possibilities for psychotic disorders.

• Early signs and interventions in adolescent psychosis
• Brain imaging techniques for diagnosing psychotic disorders
• The efficacy of antipsychotic medication
• The role of family history in psychotic disorders
• Misdiagnosis and delayed treatment of psychotic disorders
• Co-morbidity of psychotic and mood disorders
• The relationship between substance abuse and psychotic disorders
• Art therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia
• Public perception and stigma around psychotic disorders
• Hospital vs. community-based care for psychotic disorders

Personality Disorders

Research topics within in this area could delve into the identification, management, and social implications of personality disorders.

• Long-term outcomes of borderline personality disorder
• Antisocial personality disorder and criminal behaviour
• The role of early life experiences in developing personality disorders
• Narcissistic personality disorder in corporate leaders
• Gender differences in personality disorders
• Diagnosis challenges for Cluster A personality disorders
• Emotional intelligence and its role in treating personality disorders
• Psychotherapy methods for treating personality disorders
• Personality disorders in the elderly population
• Stigma and misconceptions about personality disorders

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

Within this space, research topics could focus on the causes, symptoms, or treatment of disorders like OCD and hoarding.

• OCD and its relationship with anxiety disorders
• Cognitive mechanisms behind hoarding behaviour
• Deep Brain Stimulation as a treatment for severe OCD
• The impact of OCD on academic performance in students
• Role of family and social networks in treating OCD
• Alternative treatments for hoarding disorder
• Childhood onset OCD: Diagnosis and treatment
• OCD and religious obsessions
• The impact of OCD on family dynamics
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Causes and treatment

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Research topics in this area could explore the triggers, symptoms, and treatments for PTSD. Here are some thought starters to get you moving.

• PTSD in military veterans: Coping mechanisms and treatment
• Childhood trauma and adult onset PTSD
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) efficacy
• Role of emotional support animals in treating PTSD
• Gender differences in PTSD occurrence and treatment
• Effectiveness of group therapy for PTSD patients
• PTSD and substance abuse: A dual diagnosis
• First responders and rates of PTSD
• Domestic violence as a cause of PTSD
• The neurobiology of PTSD

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This category of mental health aims to better understand disorders like Autism and ADHD and their impact on day-to-day life.

• Early diagnosis and interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder
• ADHD medication and its impact on academic performance
• Parental coping strategies for children with neurodevelopmental disorders
• Autism and gender: Diagnosis disparities
• The role of diet in managing ADHD symptoms
• Neurodevelopmental disorders in the criminal justice system
• Genetic factors influencing Autism
• ADHD and its relationship with sleep disorders
• Educational adaptations for children with neurodevelopmental disorders
• Neurodevelopmental disorders and stigma in schools

Eating Disorders

Research topics within this space can explore the psychological, social, and biological aspects of eating disorders.

• The role of social media in promoting eating disorders
• Family dynamics and their impact on anorexia
• Biological basis of binge-eating disorder
• Treatment outcomes for bulimia nervosa
• Eating disorders in athletes
• Media portrayal of body image and its impact
• Eating disorders and gender: Are men underdiagnosed?
• Cultural variations in eating disorders
• The relationship between obesity and eating disorders
• Eating disorders in the LGBTQ+ community

Substance-Related Disorders

Research topics in this category can focus on addiction mechanisms, treatment options, and social implications.

• Efficacy of rehabilitation centres for alcohol addiction
• The role of genetics in substance abuse
• Substance abuse and its impact on family dynamics
• Prescription drug abuse among the elderly
• Legalisation of marijuana and its impact on substance abuse rates
• Alcoholism and its relationship with liver diseases
• Opioid crisis: Causes and solutions
• Substance abuse education in schools: Is it effective?
• Harm reduction strategies for drug abuse
• Co-occurring mental health disorders in substance abusers

Choosing A Research Topic

These research topic ideas we’ve covered here serve as thought starters to help you explore different areas within mental health. They are intentionally very broad and open-ended. By engaging with the currently literature in your field of interest, you’ll be able to narrow down your focus to a specific research gap .

It’s important to consider a variety of factors when choosing a topic for your dissertation or thesis . Think about the relevance of the topic, its feasibility , and the resources available to you, including time, data, and academic guidance. Also, consider your own interest and expertise in the subject, as this will sustain you through the research process.

Always consult with your academic advisor to ensure that your chosen topic aligns with academic requirements and offers a meaningful contribution to the field. If you need help choosing a topic, consider our private coaching service.

Good morning everyone. This are very patent topics for research in neuroscience. Thank you for guidance

What if everything is important, original and intresting? as in Neuroscience. I find myself overwhelmd with tens of relveant areas and within each area many optional topics. I ask myself if importance (for example – able to treat people suffering) is more relevant than what intrest me, and on the other hand if what advance me further in my career should not also be a consideration?

This information is really helpful and have learnt alot

Phd research topics on implementation of mental health policy in Nigeria :the prospects, challenges and way forward.

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150+ Trending Mental Health Research Topics For Students (2023)

Mental health is an important part of our well-being, encompassing our emotional, psychological, and social health. In the United States, the importance of addressing mental health has gained recognition, with growing concerns about stress, anxiety, and depression. 

In this blog, we will guide you the meaning of mental health research topics with our 5 useful tips. Moreover, we give you a list of 150+ Mental Health Research Topics in 2023, including qualitative, interesting, and even controversial ones, you’ll find options that suit your interests. From the impact of social media to the intersection of Mental Health with political science and music therapy, we’ve got you covered. 

Stay tuned for more on mental health research topics, and do not forget our bonus tips for selecting the best topics.

What Is Mental Health?

Table of Contents

Mental health is about how we feel and think inside our minds. It’s like taking care of our thoughts and emotions, just like we take care of our bodies. When our mental health is good, we usually feel happy and calm and can handle life’s challenges. But when our mental health is not so good, we might feel sad, anxious, or overwhelmed.

What Are Mental Health Research Topics? 

Mental health research topics are subjects that scientists and experts study to learn more about our thoughts and emotions. These topics include things like understanding what causes mental health problems, finding better ways to help people who are struggling, and figuring out how to prevent these issues from happening. Researchers also examine how different treatments, like therapy or medication, can help improve mental health.

These research topics are important because they help us learn more about our minds and how to keep them healthy. By studying these topics, scientists can discover new ways to support people who are facing mental health challenges, making it easier for everyone to lead happier and more balanced lives.

5 Useful Tips For Choosing Mental Health Research Topics

Here are some useful tips for choosing mental health research topics: 

1. Your research will be more focused and impactful.

2. You will be more likely to find funding and support.

3. You will be more likely to publish your research in peer-reviewed journals.

4. You will be more likely to make a huge contribution to the field of mental health research.

5. You will be more likely to enjoy your research experience.

Choosing the right mental health research topic is essential for success. By following the tips above, you can choose a topic that is focused, impactful, and relevant to your interests and expertise.

150+ Mental Health Research Topics In 2023

In this section, we will explore 150+ mental health research topics on different categories: 

Mental Health Research Topics For College Students

College students often face unique mental health challenges. Here are 15 research topics for studying mental health in this demographic:

• The impact of academic stress on college students’ mental health.
• Exploring the relationship between sleep patterns and mental well-being among college students.
• Analyzing the effectiveness of campus mental health services.
• Investigating the prevalence of substance abuse and its effects on mental health in college students.
• The role of peer support groups in reducing anxiety and depression among college students.
• Examining the influence of social media usage on the mental health of college students.
• The correlation between mental stress and financial stress issues in college students.
• The value of practicing mindfulness and meditation for college students’ mental health.
• Getting a better idea of how different cultures affect college students’ mental health.
• Trying to figure out how mental health and physical movement affect college students.
•  Investigating the stigma surrounding mental health issues in college environments.
•  Analyzing the role of academic pressure in the onset of eating disorders among college students.
•  The effectiveness of online mental health resources and apps for college students.
•  Examining the mental health challenges faced by LGBTQ+ college students.
•  The impact of COVID-19 and remote learning on the mental health of college students.

Mental Health Research Topics For High School Students

High school students also encounter unique mental health concerns. Here are 15 research topics for studying mental health in this age group:

•  The effects of academic pressure on the mental health of high school students.
•  Investigating the role of family dynamics in the emotional well-being of high school students.
•  Analyzing the impact of bullying and cyberbullying on the mental health of teenagers.
•  The relationship between social media use and body image issues in high school students.
•  Examining the effectiveness of mental health education programs in high schools.
•  Investigating the prevalence of self-harm and suicidal ideation among high school students.
•  Analyzing the influence of peer relationships on the mental health of adolescents.
•  The role of extracurricular activities in promoting positive mental health in high school students.
•  Exploring the effects of substances abuse on the mental well-being of teenagers.
•  Investigating the stigma surrounding mental health issues in high schools.
•  The effects of COVID-19 and remote learning on the mental health of high school students.
•  Examining the mental health challenges faced by immigrant and refugee high school students.
•  Analyzing the relationship between sleep patterns and mental health in adolescents.
•  The effectiveness of art and creative therapies in treating mental health issues in high school students.
•  Investigating the role of teachers and school counselors in supporting students’ mental health.

Mental Health Research Topics For Nursing Students

Nursing students play a vital role in mental health care. Here are 15 research topics relevant to nursing students:

•  The impact of nursing education on students’ mental health.
•  Investigating the effectiveness of therapeutic communication in psychiatric nursing.
•  Analyzing the role of psychiatric medications in mental health treatment.
•  The importance of self-care practices for nursing students’ mental well-being.
•  Exploring the challenges faced by nursing students in caring for patients with severe mental illness.
•  Investigating the influence of nursing curricula on reducing mental health stigma.
•  Analyzing the role of clinical placements in preparing nursing students for mental health nursing.
•  The effects of peer support programs on nursing students’ mental health.
•  Examining the prevalence of burnout and stress among nursing students.
• The importance of cultural skills in nursing care for different mental health patients.
•  Investigating the impact of technology and telehealth on mental health nursing practices.
•  Analyzing the ethical dilemmas faced by nursing students in mental health care.
•  Exploring the use of simulation training in psychiatric nursing education.
•  The effectiveness of mindfulness and stress management programs for nursing students.
•  Finding out what nursing students think about the healing model in mental health care is the goal of this study.

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Psychology Culture, And Mental Health Research Topics

Psychology and culture intersect in complex ways. Here are 15 research topics in this area:

•  Cross-cultural variations in the manifestation of mental disorders.
•  The influence of cultural beliefs on help-seeking behaviors for mental health issues.
•  Analyzing cultural factors in the diagnosis and treatment of depression.
• The effect of acculturation on the mental health of newcomers.
•  Exploring cultural stigma surrounding mental illness in different societies.
•  Investigating the role of traditional healing practices in mental health care.
•  Cross-cultural perspectives on the concept of resilience in mental health.
•  Analyzing cultural variations in the experience of anxiety disorders.
•  The role of cultural competence in psychotherapy and counseling.
•  Exploring indigenous perspectives on mental health and well-being.
•  The impact of globalization on cultural attitudes toward mental health.
•  Investigating the influence of religion and spirituality on mental health outcomes.
•  Analyzing cultural differences in the perception and treatment of eating disorders.
•  The role of cultural identity in coping with trauma and adversity.
•  Cross-cultural perspectives on the use of psychotropic medications in mental health treatment.

Community Mental Health Research Topics

Community mental health research is crucial for improving public well-being. Here are 15 research topics in this field:

•  Evaluating the effectiveness of community-based mental health programs.
•  Investigating the role of peer support networks in community mental health.
•  Analyzing the impact of housing instability on mental health in urban communities.
•  Why early intervention programs are so important for avoiding serious mental illness.
•  Exploring the use of telemedicine in delivering mental health services to underserved communities.
•  Investigating the integration of mental health care into primary care settings.
•  Analyzing the effectiveness of crisis intervention teams in community policing.
•  The role of community art and creative programs in promoting mental well-being.
•  Examining the mental health challenges faced by homeless populations.
•  The impact of community outreach and education on reducing mental health stigma.
•  Investigating the use of community gardens and green spaces for improving mental health.
•  Analyzing the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and mental health disparities.
•  Exploring the role of community leaders and advocates in mental health policy.
•  The effectiveness of community-based substance abuse treatment programs.
•  Finding out what part social determinants of health play in the mental health of a community.

Global Mental Health Research Topics

Mental health is a global issue with unique challenges. Here are 15 research topics in global mental health:

•  Analyzing the burden of mental illness on global public health.
•  Investigating the cultural variations in mental health stigma worldwide.
•   The impact of arms conflict and displacement on mental well-being.
•  Exploring the use of teletherapy for improving access to mental health care in low-resource settings.
•  Analyzing the role of traditional healers in global mental health care.
•  Investigating the mental health challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers.
•  The effectiveness of international mental health aid and interventions.
•  Examining the mental health implications of weather change and natural disasters.
•  Analyzing the global prevalence and treatment of common mental disorders.
•  Exploring the intersection of infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS) and mental health.
•  Mental Health in Urban Environments: Analyzing the unique challenges faced by individuals living in densely populated urban areas.
•  Mental Health and Digital Technology: Exploring the impact of digital technology on mental well-being across cultures and age groups.
•  Mental Health in Indigenous Communities: Investigating mental health disparities among indigenous populations and the role of cultural preservation.
•  Mental Health in the Workplace: Examining workplace-related stressors and policies to support employees’ mental well-being globally.
•  Youth Mental Health: Studying mental health challenges among children and adolescents, considering factors like education and family dynamics.

Qualitative Mental Health Research Topics

Qualitative research in mental health can provide rich insights into individuals’ experiences and perceptions. Here are 15 qualitative research topics in mental health:

•  Exploring the lived experiences of individuals with schizophrenia.
•  Qualitative analysis of the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment.
•  Understanding the coping mechanisms of parents with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
•  Investigating the narratives of individuals recovering from addiction.
•  Analyzing the cultural perceptions of depression and its treatment.
•  Examining the subjective experiences of caregivers of dementia patients.
•  Discussing the role of spirituality in the recovery process for people with mental illness.
•  Qualitative assessment of the impact of mindfulness-based interventions on stress reduction.
•  Investigating the narratives of survivors of suicide attempts.
•  Understanding the experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals in mental health care.
•  Analyzing the perceptions of veterans regarding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment.
•  Exploring the subjective experiences of individuals with eating disorders.
•  Qualitative assessment of the role of peer support groups in recovery from substance abuse.
• Investigating the stigma and barriers faced by individuals with bipolar disorder.
• Understanding the cultural variations in perceptions of anxiety disorders.

Interesting Mental Health Research Topics

Fascinating mental health topics can engage researchers and readers alike. Here are 15 intriguing research topics in mental health:

• The impact of virtual reality therapy on anxiety and phobias.
• Investigating the connection between creativity and mental well-being.
• Analyzing the role of pet therapy in reducing stress and anxiety.
• Exploring the effects of nature and green spaces on mental health.
• The relationship between personality types (e.g., introversion, extroversion) and mental health outcomes.
• Investigating the benefits of laughter therapy on mood and stress.
• Analyzing the effects of lucid dreaming on nightmares and trauma.
• Exploring the mental health benefits of volunteering and altruism.
• The impact of time-restricted eating on mood and cognitive function.
• Investigating the use of virtual support groups for individuals with social anxiety.
• Analyzing the relationship between music and memory in Alzheimer’s disease.
• Exploring the mental health effects of color psychology and interior design.
• The role of adventure therapy in enhancing self-esteem and resilience.
• Investigating the influence of childhood hobbies on adult mental well-being.
• Analyzing the connection between humor and emotional intelligence in mental health promotion.

Social Media On Mental Health Research Topics

Social media’s impact on mental health is a timely and relevant research area. Here are 15 research topics on this subject:

• Analyzing the relationship between social media use and feelings of loneliness.
• Investigating the effects of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health.
• The influence of social media comparison on body image dissatisfaction.
• Exploring the role of social media in the dissemination of mental health information.
• Analyzing the impact of social media detoxes on well-being.
• Investigating the link between excessive screen time and sleep disturbances.
• The effects of online support communities on mental health recovery.
• Exploring the role of influencer culture in shaping mental health perceptions.
• Analyzing the relationship between social media activism and mental well-being.
• Investigating the impact of “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out) on anxiety levels.
• The role of social media in spreading wrong information about mental health.
• Exploring the effects of targeted advertising on mental health outcomes.
• Analyzing the relationship between online gaming and addictive behaviors.
• Investigating the influence of social media on political polarization and mental health.
• The role of social media in fostering a sense of community among marginalized groups with mental health issues.

Cool Mental Health Research Topics

Cool mental health topics can pique interest and lead to innovative research. Here are some cool research topics in mental health:

• Investigating the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances for mental health treatment.
• Analyzing the impact of virtual reality gaming on managing stress and anxiety.
• Exploring the use of artificial intelligence and chatbots in mental health counseling.
• The effectiveness of mindfulness apps and wearable devices in promoting mental well-being.
• Investigating the role of gut microbiota in mood and mental health.
• Analyzing the use of neurofeedback technology for improving attention and focus in ADHD.
• Exploring the benefits of equine-assisted therapy for individuals with PTSD .
• The potential of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treating depression.
• Investigating the use of art therapy and virtual art galleries for mental health support.
• Analyzing the impact of music and sound therapy on sleep quality and anxiety.
• Exploring the use of scent and aroma therapy in mood regulation.
• The role of biofeedback and wearable sensors in managing panic disorders.
• Investigating the mental health benefits of urban gardening and green rooftops.
• Analyzing the use of brain-computer interfaces in enhancing emotional regulation.
• Exploring the connection between outdoor adventure activities and resilience in mental health recovery.

Understanding what mental health is and exploring various mental health research topics is crucial in addressing the challenges individuals face today. Choosing the right topic involves considering your audience and interests, as highlighted in our five tips. With 150+ mental health research topics for 2023, we have provided options for college, high school, and nursing students and those interested in psychology, culture, and global perspectives. 

Moreover, qualitative and intriguing topics offer diverse avenues for exploration while acknowledging the impact of social media on mental health is essential. Remember our bonus tips when selecting your mental health research topic – prioritize relevance and impact to make a meaningful contribution to this vital field.

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Mental Health Dissertation Topics & Titles

Published by Carmen Troy at January 9th, 2023 , Revised On June 10, 2024

You probably found your way here looking for mental health topics for your final year research project. Look no further, we have drafted a list of issues, and their research aims to help you when you are brainstorming for dissertation or thesis topics on mental health.

PhD-qualified writers of our team have developed these topics, so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting a brief research proposal or full dissertation service from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an introduction to the topic, research question , aim and objectives, literature review , and the proposed research methodology to be conducted. Let us know if you need any help in getting started.

Check our dissertation examples to understand how to structure your dissertation .

Also read: Psychology dissertation topics & nursing dissertation topics

List Of Trending Mental Health Research Topics & Ideas

• The Impact of Social Media on Body Image and Self Esteem in Youngsters. 
• How Does Loneliness Link to Depression in People Above the Age of 70
• The Effects of Israeli-Palestinian Conflicts on the Mental Health of Children in Gaza 
• The Impact of Posting Pictures From War on the Mental Health of Viewers
• The Effectiveness of Excercise Programs in Managing Symptoms of Depression 
• Role of Cultural Competency in Providing Effective Mental Healthcare for Diverse Populations
• The Impact of Social Stigma on Help-Seeking Behaviours for Mental Health Concerns
• The Effectiveness of Art Therapy Interventions in Managing Symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd)
• How Group Therapy Interventions Impacts Promoting Social Connection and Reducing Loneliness
• Animal-Assisted Therapy Interventions in Reducing Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression
• Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy in Treating Eating Disorders

Latest Mental Health Dissertation Topics

Review the step-by-step guide on how to write your dissertation here .

Topic 1: An assessment of the Influence of Parents' Divorce or Separation on Adolescent Children in terms of long-term psychological impact.

Research Aim: This study aims to investigate the level of traumas experienced by the children of divorced or separated parents. The principal aim of this study is to explore the long-term psychological impacts of parents’ divorce on the life of children regardless of their gender and age in terms of mental wellbeing, academic performance, and self-worth.

Topic 2: An investigation of the impact of Trauma and Health-related quality of life on the Mental health and Self-worth of a child.

Research Aim: This study aims to assess the long-term impacts of the trauma children face in their early years of life on their overall mental health. Also, numerous studies have emphasised improving the quality of life for children who tend to experience multiple traumas and take them along in adulthood. Therefore, this study also proposed the impacts of traumatic childhood experiences on self-worth, mental health, and vitality of implementing firm intervention before the child reaches adulthood.

Topic 3: Assessing the effect of Psychological training on males suffering from Post-Surgery Anxiety in the UK.

Research Aim: Postoperative problems may occur as a result of surgical stress. This study aims to examine different approaches to control post-surgical anxiety and improve patients’ lives in the short and long term, focusing on male patients in the UK. It will also give us an understanding of how psychological training and interventions affect anxiety in male patients and help them overcome this through a systematic review.

Topic 4: Investigating the Relationship between Mental illness and Suicides- A case study of UK's Young Adults.

Research Aim: This study aims to find the relationship between mental illness and suicides and risk factors in the UK. This study will specifically focus on young adults. It will examine different mental disorders and how they have led to suicide and will analyse further studies of people who have died by suicide and find evidence of the presence or absence of mental illness.

Topic 5: Examining the behaviour of Mental Health Nurses taking care of Schizophrenia Patients in the UK.

Research Aim: Negative behaviours and discrimination have been usually reported as a reason for the inconvenience in the treatment of mentally ill or schizophrenia patients, which negatively impacts the patient’s results. Healthcare professionals’ attitudes have been regarded as being more negative than the general public, which lowers the outlook for patients suffering from mental illness. This study will examine the behaviour of mental health nurses regarding schizophrenia patients in the UK and also focus on the characteristics associated with nurses’ attitudes.

COVID-19 Mental Health Research Topics

Topic1: impacts of the coronavirus on the mental health of various age groups.

Research Aim: This study will reveal the impacts of coronavirus on the mental health of various age groups

Topic 2: Mental health and psychological resilience during COVID-19

Research Aim: Social distancing has made people isolated and affected their mental health. This study will highlight various measures to overcome the stress and mental health of people during coronavirus.

Topic 3: The mental health of children and families during COVID-19

Research Aim: This study will address the challenging situations faced by children and families during lockdown due to COVID-19. It will also discuss various ways to overcome the fear of disease and stay positive.

Topic 4: Mental wellbeing of patients during the Coronavirus pandemic

Research Aim: This study will focus on the measures taken by the hospital management, government, and families to ensure patients’ mental well-being, especially COVID-19 patients.

Best Mental Health Topics for Your Dissertation

Topic 1: kids and their relatives with cancer: psychological challenges.

Research Aim: In cancer diagnoses and therapies, children often don’t know what happens. Many have psychosocial problems, including rage, terror, depression, disturbing sleep, inexpiable guilt, and panic. Therefore, this study is designed to identify and treat the child and its family members’ psychological issues.

Topic 2: Hematopoietic device reaction in ophthalmology patient’s radiation therapy

Research Aim: This research is based on the analysis of hematopoietic devices’ reactions to ophthalmology radiation.

Topic 3: Psychological effects of cyberbullying Vs. physical bullying: A counter study

Research Aim: This research will focus on the effects of cyberbullying and physical bullying and their consequences on the victim’s mental health. The most significant part is the counter effects on our society’s environment and human behaviour, particularly youth.

Topic 4: Whether or not predictive processing is a theory of perceptual consciousness?

Research Aim: This research aims to identify whether or not predictive processing is a theory of perceptual consciousness.

Topic 5: Importance of communication in a relationship

Research Aim: This research aims to address the importance of communication in relationships and the communication gap consequences.

Topic 6: Eating and personality disorders

Research Aim: This research aims to focus on eating and personality disorders

Topic 7: Analysis of teaching, assessment, and evaluation of students and learning differences

Research Aim: This research aims to analyse teaching methods, assessment, and evaluation systems of students and their learning differences

Topic 8: Social and psychological effects of virtual networks

Research Aim: This research aims to study the social and psychological effects of virtual networks

Topic 9: The role of media in provoking aggression

Research Aim: This research aims to address the role of media in provoking aggression among people

Mental Health Topics for Your Dissertation For Research

Topic 1: what is the impact of social media platforms on the mental wellbeing of adults.

Research Aim: the current study aims to investigate the impact social media platforms tend to have on adults’ mental well-being with a particular focus on the United Kingdom. While many studies have been carried out to gauge the impact of social media platforms on teenagers’ mental well-being, little to no research has been performed to investigate how the health of adults might be affected by the same and how social media platforms like Facebook impact them.

Topic 2: The contemporary practical management approach to treating personality disorders

Research Aim: This research will discuss the contemporary practical management approach for treating personality disorders in mental health patients. In the previous days, much of the personality disorder treatments were based on medicines and drugs. Therefore, this research will address contemporary and practical ways to manage how personality disorders affect the mental state of the individuals who have the disease.

Topic 3: How is Prozac being used in the modern-day to treat self-diagnosed depression?

Research Aim: In the current day and age, besides people suffering from clinical depression, many teens and adults have started to suffer from self-diagnosed depression. To treat their self-diagnosed depression, individuals take Prozac through all the wrong means, which harms their mental state even more. Therefore, the current study aims to shed light on how Prozac is being used in the modern age and the adverse effects of misinformed use on patients.

Topic 4: Are women more prone to suffer from mental disorders than men: A Comparative analysis

Research Aim: There have been several arguments regarding whether women are more likely to suffer from mental disorders than men. Much of the research carried out provides evidence that women are more prone to suffer from mental disorders. This research study aims to conduct a comparative analysis to determine whether it’s more likely for men or women to suffer from mental disorders and what role biological and societal factors play in determining the trend.

Topic 5: The impact of breakups on the mental health of men?

Research Aim: Several studies have been carried out to discuss how women are affected more by a breakup than men. However, little research material is available in support of the impact the end of a relationship can have on men’s mental health. Therefore, this research study will fill out the gap in research to determine the impact of a breakup on men’s mental health and stability.

Topic 6: A theoretical analysis of the Impact of emotional attachment on mental health?

Research Aim: This research aims to analyse the theories developed around emotional attachment to address how emotional attachment can harm individuals’ mental health across the globe. Several theories discuss the role that emotional attachment tends to play in the mind of a healthy being, and how emotional attachment can often negatively affect mental well-being.

Topic 7: How do social media friendships contribute to poor mental health?

Research Aim: This research idea aims to address how social media friendships and networking can often lead to a lack of self-acceptance, self-loathing, self-pity, self-comparison, and depression due to the different mindsets that are present in today’s world.

Topic 8: What role do parents play in ensuring the mental well-being of their children?

Research Aim: It is assumed that parents tend to stop playing a role in ensuring that the mental health and well-being of their children are being maintained after a certain age. Therefore, this study will aim to put forward the idea that even after the children pass the age of 18, activities and their relationship with their parents will always play a role in the way their mental health is being transformed.

Topic 9: A study on the mental health of soldiers returning from Iraq?

Research Aim: This topic idea puts forward the aim that the mental health of soldiers who return from war-struck areas is always a subject of interest, as each of the soldiers carries a mental burden. Therefore, it is vital to understand the soldiers’ mental health returning from Iraq, focusing on what causes their mental health to deteriorate during the war and suggestions of what to do or who to call if they do become unwell.

Topic 10: How the contemporary media practices in the UK are leading to mental health problems?

Research Aim: The media is known to have control and influence over people’s mindsets who are connected to it. Many of the contemporary media practices developed in the UK can negatively impact the mental well-being of individuals, which makes it necessary to analyse how they are contributing to the mental health problems among the UK population.

Topic 11: What is the impact of television advertising on the mental development of children in the UK?

Research Aim: This topic aims to address how television advertising can negatively impact children’s mental development in the United Kingdom, as it has been observed in many studies that television advertising is detrimental to the mental health of children.

Topic 12: How deteriorating mental health can have an Impact on physical health?

Research Aim: This research aims to address the side-effects of deteriorating mental health on the physical health of individuals in society, as it is believed that the majority of the physical ailments in the modern-day age are due to the deteriorating mental health of individuals. The study can address the treatments for many ailments in our society due to deteriorating mental health and well-being.

Topic 13: The relationship between unemployment and mental health

Research Aim: How unemployment relates to concepts, such as a declining economy or lack of social skills and education, has been frequently explored by many researchers in the past. However, not many have discussed the relationship between unemployment and the mental health of unemployed individuals. Therefore, this topic will help address the problems faced by individuals due to unemployment because of the mental blocks they are likely to develop and experience. In the future, it will lead to fewer people being depressed due to unemployment when further research is carried out.

Topic 14: The mental health problems of prisoners in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: While prisoners across the globe are criticised and studied for the negativity that goes on in their mindsets, one would rarely research the mental health problems they tend to develop when they become prisoners for committing any crime. It is often assumed that it is the life inside the prison walls that impacts the prisoners’ mental health in a way that leads to them committing more crimes. Therefore, this research topic has been developed to study prison’s impact on prisoners’ mental well-being in the United Kingdom to eventually decrease the number of crimes that occur due to the negative environment inside the prisons.

Topic 15: Mental well-being of industry workers in China

Research Aim: While many research studies have been carried out regarding the conditions that the workers in China tend to be exposed to, there is very little supporting evidence regarding the impact such working conditions have on the mindset and mental health of the workers. Therefore, this study aims to address the challenges faced by industry workers in China and the impact that such challenges can have on their mental well-being.

Topic 16: Is the provision of mental health care services in the United Kingdom effective?

Research Aim: Many people have made different assumptions regarding the mental health care services provided across the globe. However, it seems that little to no research has been carried out regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of the provision of mental health care services in the United Kingdom. Therefore, this study aims to put forward research into the mental health care services provided in well-developed countries like the United Kingdom to gauge the awareness and importance of mental health in the region.

Topic 17: What are the mental health problems that minorities in the United Kingdom face?

Research Aim: It is believed that minorities in the United Kingdom are likely to experience physical abuse, and societal abuse and are often exposed to discrimination and unfair acts at the workplace and in their social circle. The study investigates the range of mental problems faced by minorities in the UK, which need to be addressed to have equality, diversity, and harmony.

Topic 18: The impact the Coronavirus has had on the mental health of the Chinese people

Research Aim: The spread of the deadly Coronavirus has led to many deaths in the region of China, and many of those who have been suspected of the virus are being put in isolation and quarantine. Such conditions tend to hurt the mental health of those who have suffered from the disease and those who have watched people suffer from it. Therefore, the current study aims to address how the Coronavirus has impacted the mental health of the Chinese people.

Topic 19: How to create change in mental health organisations in China?

Research Aim: Research suggests little awareness about mental health in many Asian countries. As mental health problems are on the rise across the globe, it is necessary to change mental health organisations. Therefore, the study aims to discuss how to create change in mental health organisations in the Asian region using China’s example.

Topic 20: Addressing the mental health concerns of the Syrian refugees in the UK

Research Aim: This research project would address the concerns in terms of the refugees’ mental health and well-being, using an example of the Syrian refugees who had been allowed entry into the United Kingdom. This idea aims to put forward the negative effects that migration can have on refugees and how further research is required to combat such issues not just in the United Kingdom but worldwide.

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Important Notes:

As a mental health student looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment on existing mental health theories – i.e., to add value and interest in the topic of your research.

Mental health is vast and interrelated to so many other academic disciplines like civil engineering ,  construction ,  project management , engineering management , healthcare , finance and accounting , artificial intelligence , tourism , physiotherapy , sociology , management , project management , and nursing . That is why it is imperative to create a project management dissertation topic that is articular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic based on your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in writing your dissertation as you may end up in a cycle of rejection at the initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best mental health dissertation topics that fulfill your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalising your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Please look at some of our sample mental health dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure Your Mental Health Dissertation

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review : This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic to address research questions . The purpose is to highlight and discuss the selected research area’s relative weaknesses and strengths whilst identifying any research gaps. Break down the topic, and key terms that can positively impact your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology : The data collection and analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter which usually includes research design , research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis : Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include graphs, charts, and tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and Conclusion : The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section of the paper is to draw a linkage between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regard to the implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References : This should be completed following your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices : Any additional information, diagrams, and graphs used to complete the dissertation but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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To find mental health dissertation topics:

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• Select a topic that resonates with you for in-depth study.

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A scoping review of the literature on the current mental health status of physicians and physicians-in-training in North America

• Mara Mihailescu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6878-1024 1 &
• Elena Neiterman 2  

BMC Public Health volume  19 , Article number:  1363 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

This scoping review summarizes the existing literature regarding the mental health of physicians and physicians-in-training and explores what types of mental health concerns are discussed in the literature, what is their prevalence among physicians, what are the causes of mental health concerns in physicians, what effects mental health concerns have on physicians and their patients, what interventions can be used to address them, and what are the barriers to seeking and providing care for physicians. This review aims to improve the understanding of physicians’ mental health, identify gaps in research, and propose evidence-based solutions.

A scoping review of the literature was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, which examined peer-reviewed articles published in English during 2008–2018 with a focus on North America. Data were summarized quantitatively and thematically.

A total of 91 articles meeting eligibility criteria were reviewed. Most of the literature was specific to burnout ( n  = 69), followed by depression and suicidal ideation ( n  = 28), psychological harm and distress ( n  = 9), wellbeing and wellness ( n  = 8), and general mental health ( n  = 3). The literature had a strong focus on interventions, but had less to say about barriers for seeking help and the effects of mental health concerns among physicians on patient care.

Conclusions

More research is needed to examine a broader variety of mental health concerns in physicians and to explore barriers to seeking care. The implication of poor physician mental health on patients should also be examined more closely. Finally, the reviewed literature lacks intersectional and longitudinal studies, as well as evaluations of interventions offered to improve mental wellbeing of physicians.

Peer Review reports

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” [ 41 ] One in four people worldwide are affected by mental health concerns [ 40 ]. Physicians are particularly vulnerable to experiencing mental illness due to the nature of their work, which is often stressful and characterized by shift work, irregular work hours, and a high pressure environment [ 1 , 21 , 31 ]. In North America, many physicians work in private practices with no access to formal institutional supports, which can result in higher instances of social isolation [ 13 , 27 ]. The literature on physicians’ mental health is growing, partly due to general concerns about mental wellbeing of health care workers and partly due to recognition that health care workers globally are dissatisfied with their work, which results in burnout and attrition from the workforce [ 31 , 34 ]. As a consequence, more efforts have been made globally to improve physicians’ mental health and wellness, which is known as “The Quadruple Aim.” [ 34 ] While the literature on mental health is flourishing, however, it has not been systematically summarized. This makes it challenging to identify what is being done to improve physicians’ wellbeing and which solutions are particularly promising [ 7 , 31 , 33 , 37 , 38 ]. The goal of our paper is to address this gap.

This paper explores what is known from the existing peer-reviewed literature about the mental health status of physicians and physicians-in-training in North America. Specifically, we examine (1) what types of mental health concerns among physicians are commonly discussed in the literature; (2) what are the reported causes of mental health concerns in physicians; (3) what are the effects that mental health concerns may have on physicians and their patients; (4) what solutions are proposed to improve mental health of physicians; and (5) what are the barriers to seeking and providing care to physicians with mental health concerns. Conducting this scoping review, our goal is to summarize the existing research, identifying the need for a subsequent systematic review of the literature in one or more areas under the study. We also hope to identify evidence-based interventions that can be utilized to improve physicians’ mental wellbeing and to suggest directions for future research [ 2 ]. Evidence-based interventions might have a positive impact on physicians and improve the quality of patient care they provide.

A scoping review of the academic literature on the mental health of physicians and physicians-in-training in North America was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley’s [ 2 ] methodological framework. Our review objectives and broad focus, including the general questions posed to conduct the review, lend themselves to a scoping review approach, which is suitable for the analysis of a broader range of study designs and methodologies [ 2 ]. Our goal was to map the existing research on this topic and identify knowledge gaps, without making any prior assumptions about the literature’s scope, range, and key findings [ 29 ].

Stage 1: identify the research question

Following the guidelines for scoping reviews [ 2 ], we developed a broad research question for our literature search, asking what does the academic literature tell about mental health issues among physicians, residents, and medical students in North America ? Burnout and other mental health concerns often begin in medical training and continue to worsen throughout the years of practice [ 31 ]. Recognizing that the study and practice of medicine plays a role in the emergence of mental health concerns, we focus on practicing physicians – general practitioners, specialists, and surgeons – and those who are still in training – residents and medical students. We narrowed down the focus of inquiry by asking the following sub-questions:

What types of mental health concerns among physicians are commonly discussed in the literature?

What are the reported causes of mental health problems in physicians and what solutions are available to improve the mental wellbeing of physicians?

What are the barriers to seeking and providing care to physicians suffering from mental health problems?

Stage 2: identify the relevant studies

We included in our review empirical papers published during January 2008–January 2018 in peer-reviewed journals. Our exclusive focus on peer-reviewed and empirical literature reflected our goal to develop an evidence-based platform for understanding mental health concerns in physicians. Since our focus was on prevalence of mental health concerns and promising practices available to physicians in North America, we excluded articles that were more than 10 years old, suspecting that they might be too outdated for our research interest. We also excluded papers that were not in English or outside the region of interest. Using combinations of keywords developed in consultation with a professional librarian (See Table  1 ), we searched databases PUBMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and PsychNET. We also screened reference lists of the papers that came up in our original search to ensure that we did not miss any relevant literature.

Stage 3: literature selection

Publications were imported into a reference manager and screened for eligibility. During initial abstract screening, 146 records were excluded for being out of scope, 75 records were excluded for being outside the region of interest, and 4 papers were excluded because they could not be retrieved. The remaining 91 papers were included into the review. Figure  1 summarizes the literature search and selection.

PRISMA Flow Diagram

Stage 4: charting the data

A literature extraction tool was created in Microsoft Excel to record the author, date of publication, location, level of training, type of article (empirical, report, commentary), and topic. Both authors coded the data inductively, first independently reading five articles and generating themes from the data, then discussing our coding and developing a coding scheme that was subsequently applied to ten more papers. We then refined and finalized the coding scheme and used it to code the rest of the data. When faced with disagreements on narrowing down the themes, we discussed our reasoning and reached consensus.

Stage 5: collating, summarizing, and reporting the results

The data was summarized by frequency and type of publication, mental health topics, and level of training. The themes inductively derived from the data included (1) description of mental health concerns affecting physicians and physicians-in-training; (2) prevalence of mental health concerns among this population; (3) possible causes that can explain the emergence of mental health concerns; (4) solutions or interventions proposed to address mental health concerns; (5) effects of mental health concerns on physicians and on patient outcomes; and (6) barriers for seeking and providing help to physicians afflicted with mental health concerns. Each paper was coded based on its relevance to major theme(s) and, if warranted, secondary focus. Therefore, one paper could have been coded in more than one category. Upon analysis, we identified the gaps in the literature.

Characteristics of included literature

The initial search yielded 316 records of which 91 publications underwent full-text review and were included in our scoping review. Our analysis revealed that the publications appear to follow a trend of increase over the course of the last decade reflecting the growing interest in physicians’ mental health. More than half of the literature was published in the last 4 years included in the review, from 2014 to 2018 ( n  = 55), with most publications in 2016 ( n  = 18) (Fig.  2 ). The majority of papers ( n  = 36) focused on practicing physicians, followed by papers on residents ( n  = 22), medical students ( n  = 21), and those discussing medical professionals with different level of training ( n  = 12). The types of publications were mostly empirical ( n  = 71), of which 46 papers were quantitative. Furthermore, the vast majority of papers focused on the United States of America (USA) ( n  = 83), with less than 9% focusing on Canada ( n  = 8). The frequency of identified themes in the literature is broken down into prevalence of mental health concerns ( n  = 15), causes of mental health concerns ( n  = 18), effects of mental health concerns on physicians and patients ( n  = 12), solutions and interventions for mental health concerns ( n  = 46), and barriers to seeking and providing care for mental health concerns ( n  = 4) (Fig.  3 ).

Number of sources by characteristics of included literature

Frequency of themes in literature ( n  = 91)

Mental health concerns and their prevalence in the literature

In this thematic category ( n  = 15), we coded the papers discussing the prevalence of specific mental health concerns among physicians and those comparing physicians’ mental health to that of the general population. Most papers focused on burnout and stress ( n  = 69), which was followed by depression and suicidal ideation ( n  = 28), psychological harm and distress ( n  = 9), wellbeing and wellness ( n  = 8), and general mental health ( n  = 3) (Fig.  4 ). The literature also identified that, on average, burnout and mental health concerns affect 30–60% of all physicians and residents [ 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 15 , 25 , 26 ].

Number of sources by mental health topic discussed ( n  = 91)

There was some overlap between the papers discussing burnout, depression, and suicidal ideation, suggesting that work-related stress may lead to the emergence of more serious mental health problems [ 3 , 12 , 21 ], as well as addiction and substance abuse [ 22 , 27 ]. Residency training was shown to produce the highest rates of burnout [ 4 , 8 , 19 ].

Causes of mental health concerns

Papers discussing the causes of mental health concerns in physicians formed the second largest thematic category ( n  = 18). Unbalanced schedules and increasing administrative work were defined as key factors in producing poor mental health among physicians [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 13 , 15 , 27 ]. Some papers also suggested that the nature of the medical profession itself – competitive culture and prioritizing others – can lead to the emergence of mental health concerns [ 23 , 27 ]. Indeed, focus on qualities such as rigidity, perfectionism, and excessive devotion to work during the admission into medical programs fosters the selection of students who may be particularly vulnerable to mental illness in the future [ 21 , 24 ]. The third cluster of factors affecting mental health stemmed from structural issues, such as pressure from the government and insurance, fragmentation of care, and budget cuts [ 13 , 15 , 18 ]. Work overload, lack of control over work environment, lack of balance between effort and reward, poor sense of community among staff, lack of fairness and transparency by decision makers, and dissonance between one’s personal values and work tasks are the key causes for mental health concerns among physicians [ 20 ]. Govardhan et al. conceptualized causes for mental illness as having a cyclical nature - depression leads to burnout and depersonalization, which leads to patient dissatisfaction, causing job dissatisfaction and more depression [ 19 ].

Effects of mental health concerns on physicians and patients

A relatively small proportion of papers (13%) discussed the effects of mental health concerns on physicians and patients. The literature prioritized the direct effect of mental health on physicians ( n  = 11) with only one paper focusing solely on the indirect effects physicians’ mental health may have on patients. Poor mental health in physicians was linked to decreased mental and physical health [ 3 , 14 , 15 ]. In addition, mental health concerns in physicians were associated with reduction in work hours and the number of patients seen, decrease in job satisfaction, early retirement, and problems in personal life [ 3 , 5 , 15 ]. Lu et al. found that poor mental health in physicians may result in increased medical errors and the provision of suboptimal care [ 25 ]. Thus physicians’ mental wellbeing is linked to the quality of care provided to patients [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 10 , 17 ].

Solutions and interventions

In this largest thematic category ( n  = 46) we coded the literature that offered solutions for improving mental health among physicians. We identified four major levels of interventions suggested in the literature. A sizeable proportion of literature discussed the interventions that can be broadly categorized as primary prevention of mental illness. These papers proposed to increase awareness of physicians’ mental health and to develop strategies that can help to prevent burnout from occurring in the first place [ 4 , 12 ]. Some literature also suggested programs that can help to increase resilience among physicians to withstand stress and burnout [ 9 , 20 , 27 ]. We considered the papers referring to the strategies targeting physicians currently suffering from poor mental health as tertiary prevention . This literature offered insights about mindfulness-based training and similar wellness programs that can increase self-awareness [ 16 , 18 , 27 ], as well as programs aiming to improve mental wellbeing by focusing on physical health [ 17 ].

While the aforementioned interventions target individual physicians, some literature proposed workplace/institutional interventions with primary focus on changing workplace policies and organizational culture [ 4 , 13 , 23 , 25 ]. Reducing hours spent at work and paperwork demands or developing guidelines for how long each patient is seen have been identified by some researchers as useful strategies for improving mental health [ 6 , 11 , 17 ]. Offering access to mental health services outside of one’s place of employment or training could reduce the fear of stigmatization at the workplace [ 5 , 12 ]. The proposals for cultural shift in medicine were mainly focused on promoting a less competitive culture, changing power dynamics between physicians and physicians-in-training, and improving wellbeing among medical students and residents. The literature also proposed that the medical profession needs to put more emphasis on supporting trainees, eliminating harassment, and building strong leadership [ 23 ]. Changing curriculum for medical students was considered a necessary step for the cultural shift [ 20 ]. Finally, while we only reviewed one paper that directly dealt with the governmental level of prevention, we felt that it necessitated its own sub-thematic category because it identified the link between government policy, such as health care reforms and budget cuts, and the services and care physicians can provide to their patients [ 13 ].

Barriers to seeking and providing care

Only four papers were summarized in this thematic category that explored what the literature says about barriers for seeking and providing care for physicians suffering from mental health concerns. Based on our analysis, we identified two levels of factors that can impact access to mental health care among physicians and physicians-in-training.

Individual level barriers stem from intrinsic barriers that individual physicians may experience, such as minimizing the illness [ 21 ], refusing to seek help or take part in wellness programs [ 14 ], and promoting the culture of stoicism [ 27 ] among physicians. Another barrier is stigma associated with having a mental illness. Although stigma might be experienced personally, literature suggests that acknowledging the existence of mental health concerns may have negative consequences for physicians, including loss of medical license, hospital privileges, or professional advancement [ 10 , 21 , 27 ].

Structural barriers refer to the lack of formal support for mental wellbeing [ 3 ], poor access to counselling [ 6 ], lack of promotion of available wellness programs [ 10 ], and cost of treatment. Lack of research that tests the efficacy of programs and interventions aiming to improve mental health of physicians makes it challenging to develop evidence-based programs that can be implemented at a wider scale [ 5 , 11 , 12 , 18 , 20 ].

Our analysis of the existing literature on mental health concerns in physicians and physicians-in-training in North America generated five thematic categories. Over half of the reviewed papers focused on proposing solutions, but only a few described programs that were empirically tested and proven to work. Less common were papers discussing causes for deterioration of mental health in physicians (20%) and prevalence of mental illness (16%). The literature on the effects of mental health concerns on physicians and patients (13%) focused predominantly on physicians with only a few linking physicians’ poor mental health to medical errors and decreased patient satisfaction [ 3 , 4 , 16 , 24 ]. We found that the focus on barriers for seeking and receiving help for mental health concerns (4%) was least prevalent. The topic of burnout dominated the literature (76%). It seems that the nature of physicians’ work fosters the environment that causes poor mental health [ 1 , 21 , 31 ].

While emphasis on burnout is certainly warranted, it might take away the attention paid to other mental health concerns that carry more stigma, such as depression or anxiety. Establishing a more explicit focus on other mental health concerns might promote awareness of these problems in physicians and reduce the fear such diagnosis may have for doctors’ job security [ 10 ]. On the other hand, utilizing the popularity and non-stigmatizing image of “burnout” might be instrumental in developing interventions promoting mental wellbeing among a broad range of physicians and physicians-in-training.

Table  2 summarizes the key findings from the reviewed literature that are important for our understanding of physician mental health. In order to explicitly summarize the gaps in the literature, we mapped them alongside the areas that have been relatively well studied. We found that although non-empirical papers discussed physicians’ mental wellbeing broadly, most empirical papers focused on medical specialty (e.g. neurosurgeons, family medicine, etc.) [ 4 , 8 , 15 , 19 , 25 , 28 , 35 , 36 ]. Exclusive focus on professional specialty is justified if it features a unique context for generation of mental health concerns, but it limits the ability to generalize the findings to a broader population of physicians. Also, while some papers examined the impact of gender on mental health [ 7 , 32 , 39 ], only one paper considered ethnicity as a potential factor for mental health concerns and found no association [ 4 ]. Given that mental health in the general population varies by gender, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation, it would be prudent to examine mental health among physicians using an intersectional analysis [ 30 , 32 , 39 ]. Finally, of the empirical studies we reviewed, all but one had a cross-sectional design. Longitudinal design might offer a better understanding of the emergence and development of mental health concerns in physicians and tailor interventions to different stages of professional career. Additionally, it could provide an opportunity to evaluate programs’ and policies’ effectiveness in improving physicians’ mental health. This would also help to address the gap that we identified in the literature – an overarching focus on proposing solutions with little demonstrated evidence they actually work.

This review has several limitations. First, our focus on academic literature may have resulted in overlooking the papers that are not peer-reviewed but may provide interesting solutions to physician mental health concerns. It is possible that grey literature – reports and analyses published by government and professional organizations – offers possible solutions that we did not include in our analysis or offers a different view on physicians’ mental health. Additionally, older papers and papers not published in English may have information or interesting solutions that we did not include in our review. Second, although our findings suggest that the theme of burnout dominated the literature, this may be the result of the search criteria we employed. Third, following the scoping review methodology [ 2 ], we did not assess the quality of the papers, focusing instead on the overview of the literature. Finally, our research was restricted to North America, specifically Canada and the USA. We excluded Mexico because we believed that compared to the context of medical practice in Canada and the USA, which have some similarities, the work experiences of Mexican physicians might be different and the proposed solutions might not be readily applicable to the context of practice in Canada and the USA. However, it is important to note that differences in organization of medical practice in Canada and the USA do exist, as do differences across and within provinces in Canada and the USA. A comparative analysis can shed light on how the structure and organization of medical practice shapes the emergence of mental health concerns.

The scoping review we conducted contributes to the existing research on mental wellbeing of American and Canadian physicians by summarizing key knowledge areas and identifying key gaps and directions for future research. While the papers reviewed in our analysis focused on North America, we believe that they might be applicable to the global medical workforce. Identifying key gaps in our knowledge, we are calling for further research on these topics, including examination of medical training curricula and its impact on mental wellbeing of medical students and residents, research on common mental health concerns such as depression or anxiety, studies utilizing intersectional and longitudinal approaches, and program evaluations assessing the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve mental wellbeing of physicians. Focus on the effect physicians’ mental health may have on the quality of care provided to patients might facilitate support from government and policy makers. We believe that large-scale interventions that are proven to work effectively can utilize an upstream approach for improving the mental health of physicians and physicians-in-training.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

United States of America

World Health Organization

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M.M. and E.N. were involved in identifying the relevant research question and developing the combinations of keywords used in consultation with a professional librarian. M.M. performed the literature selection and screening of references for eligibility. Both authors were involved in the creation of the literature extraction tool in Excel. Both authors coded the data inductively, first independently reading five articles and generating themes from the data, then discussing their coding and developing a coding scheme that was subsequently applied to ten more papers. Both authors then refined and finalized the coding scheme and M.M. used it to code the rest of the data. M.M. conceptualized and wrote the first copy of the manuscript, followed by extensive drafting by both authors. E.N. was a contributor to writing the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Mihailescu, M., Neiterman, E. A scoping review of the literature on the current mental health status of physicians and physicians-in-training in North America. BMC Public Health 19 , 1363 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7661-9

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207 Mental Health Research Topics For Top Students

College and university students pursuing psychology studies must write research papers on mental health in their studies. It is not always an exciting moment for the students since getting quality mental health topics is tedious. However, this article presents expert ideas and writing tips for students in this field. Enjoy!

What Is Mental Health?

It is an integral component of health that deals with the feeling of well-being when one realizes his or her abilities, cope with the pressures of life, and productively work. Mental health also incorporates how humans interact with each other, emote, or think. It is a vital concern of any human life that cannot be neglected.

How To Write Mental Health Research Topics

One should approach the subject of mental health with utmost preciseness. If handled carelessly, cases such as depression, suicide or low self-esteem may occur. That is why students are advised to carefully choose mental health research paper topics for their paper with the mind reader.

To get mental health topics for research paper, you can use the following sources:

• The WHO website
• Websites of renowned psychology clinics
• News reports and headlines.

However, we have a list of writing ideas that you can use for your inspiration. Check them out!

Top Mental Disorders Research Topics

• Is the psychological treatment of mental disorders working for all?
• How do substance-use disorders impede the healing process?
• Discuss the effectiveness of the mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP)
• Are non-specialists in mental health able to manage severe mental disorders?
• The role of the WHO in curbing and treating mental disorders globally
• The contribution of coronavirus pandemic to mental disorders
• How does television contribute to mental disorders among teens?
• Does religion play a part in propagating mental disorders?
• How does peer pressure contribute to mental disorders among teens?
• The role of the guidance and counselling departments in helping victims of mental disorders
• How to develop integrated and responsive mental health to such disorders
• Discuss various strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health
• The role of information systems in mental disorders

Mental Illness Research Questions

• The role of antidepressant medicines in treating mental illnesses
• How taxation of alcoholic beverages and their restriction can help in curbing mental illnesses
• The impact of mental illnesses on the economic development of a country
• Efficient and cost-effective ways of treating mental illnesses
• Early childhood interventions to prevent future mental illnesses
• Why children from single-parent families are prone to mental illnesses
• Do opportunities for early learning have a role in curbing mental diseases?
• Life skills programmes that everyone should embrace to fight mental illnesses
• The role of nutrition and diet in causing mental illness
• How socio-economic empowerment of women can help promote mental health
• Practical social support for elderly populations to prevent mental illnesses
• How to help vulnerable groups against mental illnesses
• Evaluate the effectiveness of mental health promotional activities in schools

Hot Mental Health Topics For Research

• Do stress prevention programmes on TV work?
• The role of anti-discrimination laws and campaigns in promoting mental health
• Discuss specific psychological and personality factors leading to mental disorders
• How can biological factors lead to mental problems?
• How stressful work conditions can stir up mental health disorders
• Is physical ill-health a pivotal contributor to mental disorders today?
• Why sexual violence has led many to depression and suicide
• The role of life experiences in mental illnesses: A case of trauma
• How family history can lead to mental health problems
• Can people with mental health problems recover entirely?
• Why sleeping too much or minor can be an indicator of mental disorders.
• Why do people with mental health problems pull away from others?
• Discuss confusion as a sign of mental disorders

Research Topics For Mental Health Counseling

• Counselling strategies that help victims cope with the stresses of life
• Is getting professional counselling help becoming too expensive?
• Mental health counselling for bipolar disorders
• How psychological counselling affects victims of mental health disorders
• What issues are students free to share with their guiding and counselling masters?
• Why are relationship issues the most prevalent among teenagers?
• Does counselling help in the case of obsessive-compulsive disorders?
• Is counselling a cure to mental health problems?
• Why talking therapies are the most effective in dealing with mental disorders
• How does talking about your experiences help in dealing with the problem?
• Why most victims approach their counsellors feeling apprehensive and nervous
• How to make a patient feel comfortable during a counselling session
• Why counsellors should not push patients to talk about stuff they aren’t ready to share

Mental Health Law Research Topics

• Discuss the effectiveness of the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Does the Capacity to Consent to Treatment law push patients to the wall?
• Evaluate the effectiveness of mental health courts
• Does forcible medication lead to severe mental health problems?
• Discuss the institutionalization of mental health facilities
• Analyze the Consent to Clinical Research using mentally ill patients
• What rights do mentally sick patients have? Are they effective?
• Critically analyze proxy decision making for mental disorders
• Why some Psychiatric Advance directives are punitive
• Discuss the therapeutic jurisprudence of mental disorders
• How effective is legal guardianship in the case of mental disorders?
• Discuss psychology laws & licensing boards in the United States
• Evaluate state insanity defence laws

Controversial Research Paper Topics About Mental Health

• Do mentally ill patients have a right to choose whether to go to psychiatric centres or not?
• Should families take the elderly to mental health institutions?
• Does the doctor have the right to end the life of a terminally ill mental patient?
• The use of euthanasia among extreme cases of mental health
• Are mental disorders a result of curses and witchcraft?
• Do violent video games make children aggressive and uncontrollable?
• Should mental institutions be located outside the cities?
• How often should families visit their relatives who are mentally ill?
• Why the government should fully support the mentally ill
• Should mental health clinics use pictures of patients without their consent?
• Should families pay for the care of mentally ill relatives?
• Do mentally ill patients have the right to marry or get married?
• Who determines when to send a patient to a mental health facility?

Mental Health Topics For Discussion

• The role of drama and music in treating mental health problems
• Explore new ways of coping with mental health problems in the 21 st century
• How social media is contributing to various mental health problems
• Does Yoga and meditation help to treat mental health complications?
• Is the mental health curriculum for psychology students inclusive enough?
• Why solving problems as a family can help alleviate mental health disorders
• Why teachers can either maintain or disrupt the mental state of their students
• Should patients with mental health issues learn to live with their problems?
• Why socializing is difficult for patients with mental disorders
• Are our online psychology clinics effective in handling mental health issues?
• Discuss why people aged 18-25 are more prone to mental health problems
• Analyze the growing trend of social stigma in the United States
• Are all people with mental health disorders violent and dangerous?

Mental Health Of New Mothers Research Topics

• The role of mental disorders in mother-infant bonding
• How mental health issues could lead to delays in the emotional development of the infant
• The impact of COVID-19 physical distancing measures on postpartum women
• Why anxiety and depression are associated with preterm delivery
• The role of husbands in attending to wives’ postpartum care needs
• What is the effectiveness of screening for postpartum depression?
• The role of resilience in dealing with mental issues after delivery
• Why marginalized women are more prone to postpartum depression
• Why failure to bond leads to mental disorders among new mothers
• Discuss how low and middle-income countries contribute to perinatal depression
• How to prevent the recurrence of postpartum mental disorders in future
• The role of anti-depression drugs in dealing with depression among new mothers
• A case study of the various healthcare interventions for perinatal anxiety and mood disorders

What Are The Hot Topics For Mental Health Research Today

• Discuss why mental health problems may be a result of a character flaw
• The impact of damaging stereotypes in mental health
• Why are many people reluctant to speak about their mental health issues?
• Why the society tends to judge people with mental issues
• Does alcohol and wasting health help one deal with a mental problem?
• Discuss the role of bullying in causing mental health disorders among students
• Why open forums in school and communities can help in curbing mental disorders
• How to build healthy relationships that can help in solving mental health issues
• Discuss frustration and lack of understanding in relationships
• The role of a stable and supportive family in preventing mental disorders
• How parents can start mental health conversations with their children
• Analyze the responsibilities of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
• The role of a positive mind in dealing with psychological problems

Good Research Topics On Refugees Mental Health

• Why do refugees find themselves under high levels of stress?
• Discuss the modalities of looking after the mental health of refugees
• Evaluate the importance of a cultural framework in helping refugees with mental illnesses
• How refugee camp administrators can help identify mental health disorders among refugees
• Discuss the implications of dangerous traditional practices
• The role of the UNHCR in assisting refugees with mental problems
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder among refugees
• Dealing with hopelessness among refugees
• The prevalence of traumatic experiences in refugee camps
• Does cognitive-behavioural therapy work for refugees?
• Discuss the role of policy planning in dealing with refugee-mental health problems
• Are psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine effective in refugee camps?
• Practical groups and in‐group therapeutic settings for refugee camps

Adolescent Mental Health Research Topics

• Discuss why suicide is among the leading causes of death among adolescents
• The role of acting-out behaviour or substance use in mental issues among adolescents
• Mental effects of unsafe sexual behaviour among adolescents
• Psychopharmacologic agents and menstrual dysfunction in adolescents
• The role of confidentiality in preventive care visits
• Mental health disorders and impairment among adolescents
• Why adolescents not in school risk developing mental disorders
• Does a clinical model work for adolescents with mental illnesses?
• The role of self-worth and esteem in dealing with adolescent mental disorders
• How to develop positive relationships with peers
• Technology and mental ill-health among adolescents
• How to deal with stigma among adolescents
• Curriculum that supports young people to stay engaged and motivated

Research Topics For Mental Health And Government

• Evaluate mental health leadership and governance in the United States
• Advocacy and partnerships in dealing with mental health
• Discuss mental health and socio-cultural perspective
• Management and coordination of mental health policy frameworks
• Roles and responsibilities of governments in dealing with mental health
• Monitoring and evaluation of mental health policies
• What is the essence of a mental health commission?
• Benefits of mental well-being to the prosperity of a country
• Necessary reforms to the mental health systems
• Legal frameworks for dealing with substance use disorders
• How mental health can impede the development of a country
• The role of the government in dealing with decaying mental health institutions
• Inadequate legislation in dealing with mental health problems

Abnormal Psychology Topics

• What does it mean to display strange behaviour?
• Role of mental health professionals in dealing with abnormal psychology
• Discuss the concept of dysfunction in mental illness
• How does deviance relate to mental illness?
• Role of culture and social norms
• The cost of treating abnormal psychology in the US
• Using aversive treatment in abnormal psychology
• Importance of psychological debriefing
• Is addiction a mental disease?
• Use of memory-dampening drugs
• Coercive interrogations and psychology

Behavioural Health Issues In Mental Health

• Detachment from reality
• Inability to withstand daily problems
• Conduct disorder among children
• Role of therapy in behavioural disorders
• Eating and drinking habits and mental health
• Addictive behaviour patterns for teenagers in high school
• Discuss mental implications of gambling and sex addiction
• Impact of maladaptive behaviours on the society
• Extreme mood changes
• Confused thinking
• Role of friends in behavioural complications
• Spiritual leaders in helping deal with behavioural issues
• Suicidal thoughts

Latest Psychology Research Topics

• Discrimination and prejudice in a society
• Impact of negative social cognition
• Role of personal perceptions
• How attitudes affect mental well-being
• Effects of cults on cognitive behaviour
• Marketing and psychology
• How romance can distort normal cognitive functioning
• Why people with pro-social behaviour may be less affected
• Leadership and mental health
• Discuss how to deal with anti-social personality disorders
• Coping with phobias in school
• The role of group therapy
• Impact of dreams on one’s psychological behaviour

Professional Psychiatry Research Topics

• The part of false memories
• Media and stress disorders
• Impact of gender roles
• Role of parenting styles
• Age and psychology
• The biography of Harry Harlow
• Career paths in psychology
• Dissociative disorders
• Dealing with paranoia
• Delusions and their remedy
• A distorted perception of reality
• Rights of mental caregivers
• Dealing with a loss
• Handling a break-up

Consider using our expert research paper writing services for your mental health paper today. Satisfaction is guaranteed!

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The Top 10 Most Interesting Mental Health Research Topics

In the United States, the majority of people have been diagnosed with at least one mental disorder. Once considered shameful, mental health issues are now being discussed more openly through various online platforms, such as the best mental health podcasts and blogs, which have made information more accessible. As a result, more people are seeking forms of mental healthcare and researchers are learning even more.

While research on mental health has come a long way, there is still a long way to go in destigmatizing mental health conditions and spreading mental health awareness. If you are looking for mental health research paper topics and are struggling to narrow down your list, take a look at the top 10 most interesting mental health research topics to help get you started.

Find your bootcamp match

What makes a strong mental health research topic.

The best way for you to develop a strong mental health research topic is by first having a specific and well-defined area of interest. Your research topic should provide a clear and simple roadmap to help you focus your research paper. Additionally, consider your audience and the topic’s significance within the mental health field. What does it contribute?

Tips for Choosing a Mental Health Research Topic

• Choose a topic that is interesting to you. You may be writing to share your findings with your peers, but your topic should excite you first and foremost. You will spend a significant amount of time on it, so it should be work you are eager to dive into.
• Choose a fresh approach. There is an extensive amount of mental health research conducted by mental health professionals. Use your research skills to choose a topic that does more than just restate the same facts and information. Say something that hasn’t been said before.
• Choose a topic that matters. The topic you choose should make a contribution to all the mental health education and research that already exists. Approach your topic in a way that ensures that it’s of significance within the field.
• Choose a topic that challenges you. A sure-fire way to find out if your topic meets the criteria of being interesting, fresh, and significant, is if it challenges you. If it’s too easy, then there must be enough research available on it. If it’s too difficult, it’s likely unmanageable.
• Choose a topic that’s manageable. You should aim to choose a topic that is narrow enough in its focus that it doesn’t overwhelm you. Consider what’s feasible for you to dedicate to the research in terms of resources and time.

What’s the Difference Between a Research Topic and a Research Question?

The purpose of a research topic is to let the reader know what specific area of mental health research your paper will focus on. It is the territory upon which your research paper is based. Defining your topic is typically the initial step of any research project.

A research question, on the other hand, narrows down the scope of your research and provides a framework for the study and its objectives. It is based on the research topic and written in the form of a question that the research paper aims to answer. It provides the reader with a clear idea of what’s to be expected from the research.

How to Create Strong Mental Health Research Questions

To create a strong research question, you need to consider what will help guide the direction your research takes. It is an important part of the process and requires strong research methods . A strong research question clearly defines your work’s specific focus and lets your audience know exactly what question you intend to answer through your research.

Top 10 Mental Health Research Paper Topics

1. the effects of social media platforms on the mental well-being of children.

The effects of social media platforms on the mental well-being of children is a research topic that is especially significant and relevant today. This is due to the increasing usage of online social networks by children and adolescents. Evidence shows a correlation between social media usage and increased self-harming behaviors, anxiety, and psychological distress.

2. The Psychology of Gender Identity, Inclusivity, and Diversity

With the conversations surrounding gender and identity in recent times, a research topic on the psychology of gender identity, inclusivity, and diversity is a good option. Our understanding of gender now, in the 21st century, has evolved and gender identity has become non-binary, more inclusive, and more diverse.

3. The Psychological Effects of Social Phobia on Undergraduate Students

Some of the most common mental illnesses in the United States are phobias, so the topic of the psychology and effects of phobias is interesting and relevant to the majority of people. There are various categories of phobias that have been identified by the American Psychiatric Association that you could choose to focus on.

4. Eating Disorders Among Teenagers and Adolescents

Eating disorders among teenagers and adolescents in the United States are prevalent, especially among young women. The statistics surrounding mental health issues show that 10 in 100 young women suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, as well as a preoccupation with food and body dysmorphia.

5. The Correlation Between Childhood Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Problems in Adulthood

When groups of people with learning disorders (LD) were compared with groups that had no known history of LD, a correlation between childhood LD and mental health issues in adulthood was found. This research is important because it helps us to understand how childhood LD increases mental health risks in adulthood and affects emotional development.

6. How Mental Disorder is Glamorized and Sensationalized in Modern Media

Shows and movies centered around the depiction of mental illness have become more popular in recent years. The portrayal of characters with mental illnesses can often be damaging and fail to take into account the complexities of mental disorders, which often leads to stigmatization and discrimination, and a reluctance to seek mental health care.

7. The Relationship Between Self-esteem and Suicide Rates Among Adolescents

A relationship between self-esteem and suicide rates among adolescents has been found when looking into their suicidal tendencies. This is more so the case with any individual who already suffers from a mental health issue. Low self-esteem has been linked to increased levels of depression and suicide ideation, leading to higher chances of suicide attempts among adolescents.

8. Destigmatizing Mental Illness and Mental Disorders

The rates at which people are diagnosed with mental illnesses are high. Even so, their portrayal in the media has resulted in the belief that those who suffer from a mental health issue or live in mental health facilities are dangerous. Conducting research on abnormal psychology topics and destigmatizing mental illness and mental disorders is important for mental health education.

9. Psychological Trauma and the Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Mental health statistics show that most abuse happens in childhood, causing long-lasting psychological trauma. The type of trauma caused by child abuse and childhood sexual abuse affects development in infants and children. It has been linked to higher levels of depression, anxiety, guilt, sexual issues, dissociative patterns, and relationship issues, to name a few.

10. Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Psychological Well-Being

There is no doubt about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 confinement on psychological well-being. The threat to public health, the social and economic stresses, and the various reactions by governments and individuals have all caused unexpected mental health challenges. This has affected behaviors, perceptions, and the ways in which people make decisions.

Other Examples of Mental Health Research Topics and Questions

Mental health research topics.

• How trauma affects emotional development in children
• The impact of COVID-19 on college students
• The mental effects of bullying
• How the media influences aggression
• A comparative analysis of the differences in mental health in women and mental health in men

Mental Health Research Questions

• Are digital therapy sessions as impactful as face-to-face therapy sessions for patients?
• What are the best methods for effectively using social media to unite and connect all those suffering from a mental health issue in order to reduce their isolation?
• What causes self-destructive behavior in some children?
• Can introducing mental health topics in the school curriculum help to create understanding and reduce the stigmatization of mental disorders?
• What are the most effective methods to improve brain health and emotional intelligence as we go through the aging process?

Choosing the Right Mental Health Research Topic

When choosing the right mental health research question, it is essential to figure out what single issue you want to focus on within the broader topic of mental conditions. The narrower your scope, the easier it will be to conduct thorough and relevant research. Vagueness can lead to information overload and a lack of clear direction.

However, even though it needs to be specific, your research question must also be complex enough to allow you to develop your research. If it’s too narrow in its focus, you won’t give yourself enough room to flesh out your findings as you build on your research. The key is to find the middle ground between the two.

Mental Health Research Topics FAQ

A mental disorder refers to any of the various conditions that affect and alter our behavior, thoughts, and emotions. More than half of Americans get diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their lives. They are common and manageable with the right support. Some mental illnesses are occasional, such as postpartum depression, while others are long-term, such as panic attacks.

Mental health research raises awareness of mental health disorders and promotes mental health care. It provides support and evidence for the effectiveness of mental health services and programs designed for psychiatric patients and those with mental health disorders. The information provided by the research helps us better understand mental illnesses and how best to approach treatment plans.

Behavioral health and emotional health are part of a person’s overall mental health since they are all interlinked and each one affects the other. When we speak of mental health, we are referring to behavioral, cognitive, and emotional well-being, which can also affect physical health.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the five main categories of mental illness include dementia, mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, feeding and eating disorders, and personality disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Financial stress and depression in adults: A systematic review

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Roles Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Economics, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Roles Validation, Writing – review & editing

• Naijie Guan, 
• Alessandra Guariglia, 
• Patrick Moore, 
• Fangzhou Xu, 
• Hareth Al-Janabi

• Published: February 22, 2022
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041
• Reader Comments

Financial stress has been proposed as an economic determinant of depression. However, there is little systematic analysis of different dimensions of financial stress and their association with depression. This paper reports a systematic review of 40 observational studies quantifying the relationship between various measures of financial stress and depression outcomes in adults. Most of the reviewed studies show that financial stress is positively associated with depression. A positive association between financial stress and depression is found in both high-income and low-and middle-income countries, but is generally stronger among populations with low income or wealth. In addition to the “social causation” pathway, other pathways such as “psychological stress” and “social selection” can also explain the effects of financial stress on depression. More longitudinal research would be useful to investigate the causal relationship and mechanisms linking different dimensions of financial stress and depression. Furthermore, exploration of effects in subgroups could help target interventions to break the cycle of financial stress and depression.

Citation: Guan N, Guariglia A, Moore P, Xu F, Al-Janabi H (2022) Financial stress and depression in adults: A systematic review. PLoS ONE 17(2): e0264041. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041

Editor: Pedro Vieira da Silva Magalhaes, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, BRAZIL

Received: October 26, 2021; Accepted: January 31, 2022; Published: February 22, 2022

Copyright: © 2022 Guan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Depression is one of the most common mental health problems and is marked by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration [ 1 ]. Depression is a leading cause of disability and poor health worldwide [ 1 ] and is expected to rank first worldwide by 2030 [ 2 ]. According to a survey from the World Health Organization, more than 322 million people, which accounted for approximately 4.4% of the world population, suffered from depressive disorders in 2015 [ 3 ]. The lifetime risk of developing depression was estimated to be 15%-18% [ 4 ]. Mental health problems including depression have imposed a heavy economic burden on individuals and households who are suffering from mental disorders and even on society [ 5 – 7 ]. Specifically, the global costs of mental health problems are increasing each year in every country. Those costs are estimated to reach approximately 16 trillion dollars by 2030 [ 8 , 9 ]. There is a considerable need to explore the risk factors of mental disorders or the determinants of mental health, which will inform preventive strategies and actions aimed at reducing the risk of getting mental disorders and thereby promoting public mental health.

Many social and economic determinants of depression have been identified. These include proximal factors like unemployment, low socioeconomic status, low education, low income and not being in a relationship and distal factors such as income inequality, structural characteristics of the neighbourhood and so on [ 10 – 12 ]. Research has emerged in the past two decades focusing on the association between the individual or household financial stressors and common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. However, findings regarding the relationship between different indicators of financial stress and depression are inconclusive in the previous literature. Studies have shown positive associations between depression and various indicators of financial stress such as debt or debt stress, financial hardship, or difficulties [ 13 – 15 ]. Some other studies find no relationships when financial stress was indicated by low income. For example, Zimmerman and Katon [ 16 ] found that when other socioeconomic confounders were considered, no relationship between low income and depression was observed. Besides, there is evidence showing a negative association between low income and major depressive disorder in South Korea [ 17 ]. A 2010 review on poverty and mental disorders also finds that the association between income and mental disorders (including depression) was still unclear [ 18 ].

The social causation theory is one of the theories that has been proposed to explain possible mechanisms underlying the effect of poverty on mental disorders [ 18 , 19 ]. It states that stressful financial circumstances might lead to the occurrence of new depressive symptoms or maintain previous depression. This might be due to exposure to worse living conditions, malnutrition, unhealthy lifestyle, lower social capital, social isolation, or decreased coping ability with negative life events. Individuals or households with limited financial resources are more vulnerable to stressful life events (e.g., economic crises, public-health crises), which might increase the risk of mental health problems [ 18 – 20 ]. However, practically, social causation might not be applicable to situations where individuals are not in poverty or deprivation but still can experience depression due to financial stress.

Reviews to date have examined the relationship between debt specifically and broader mental health outcomes with depression being one of them. For example, two reviews published in 2013 and 2014 reviewed the literature on the relationship between debt and both mental health and physical health [ 21 , 22 ]. They concluded that there was a significant relationship between personal unsecured debt or unpaid debt obligations and the increased risk of common mental disorders, suicidal ideation and so on [ 21 , 22 ]. In terms of depression, they found that there was a strong and consistent positive relationship between debt and depression. Another focus of the literature is on the relationship between poverty and mental health problems including depression in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). In those reviews, indicators of poverty include low socioeconomic status, low income, unemployment, low levels of education, food insecurity and low social class [ 18 , 23 ]. Both reviews find a positive relationship between poverty and common mental disorders, which exists in many LMIC societies regardless of their levels of development. Being related to low income, factors such as insecurity, low levels of education, unemployment, and poor housing were found to be strongly associated with mental disorders, while the association between income and mental disorders was unclear.

The reviews discussed above focus mainly on the relationship between debt or poverty and mental health outcomes. As sources of financial stress are complex and multidimensional, indicators such as low income or debt are not the only economic risk factor of mental health problems. Other sources of financial stress such as lack of assets, economic hardship or financial difficulties (e.g., whether an individual finds it difficult to meet standard living needs like buying food, clothes, paying bills and so on) might also relate to depression. In addition, various sources of financial stress might be related to mental health problems in different ways. Based on the existing reviews, it is still unknown which domains of financial stress have clearer associations with depression and whether there is heterogeneity in the relationship between financial stress and depression for different populations and contexts. Moreover, the existing reviews do not discuss the possible mechanisms underpinning the association between financial stress and depression. To better understand the association between financial stress and depression and the possible mechanisms underlying it, a systematic review was conducted bringing together a wide range of indicators of financial stress. The eligible economic indicators of financial stress in this review include objective financial variables like income, assets, wealth, indebtedness; as well as measures that capture subjective perceptions of financial stress, such as perceived financial hardship (e.g., subjective feelings of sufficiency regarding food, clothes, medical care, and housing), subjective financial situation (e.g., individuals’ feelings about their overall financial situation), subjective financial stress, subjective financial position, and financial dissatisfaction.

This study aims at providing a comprehensive review of the association between different financial stressors and depression considering the characteristics of the associations of interest and discussing the proposed mechanisms underlying the associations. An understanding of the relationship between financial stress and depression would not only advance our understanding and knowledge of the economic risk factors of mood disorders but also provide policymakers with more understanding of additional public mental health benefits of intervention aimed at alleviating poverty and/or at improving people’s financial conditions.

Search strategies

A systematic review of published literature was conducted using online searches on bibliographic databases. At the first stage, six bibliographic databases including CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, EconLit, AMED, and Business Source Premier were searched for related peer-reviewed journal articles to April 2019. The search terms are listed in Table 1 . The broad strategy was to combine terms related to finances, with terms related to depression, and terms related to the unit of analysis (individual, household etc). Several key studies that were eligible for inclusion criteria were pre-identified. Before the formal search, pilot searches were performed to make sure the pre-identified key studies can be found by the search. More details of search strategies are displayed in S1 Appendix . All the search results were limited to the English language. No time restriction was added to the search. The reference lists of the eligible studies and several relevant review papers were checked manually to supplement the main electronic searching.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.t001

Eligibility criteria

The inclusion and exclusion criteria for study selection were designed to ensure a focus on primary studies and secondary studies conducted on adults, using measures of financial stress (exposure) and depression (outcome). The eligibility criteria were tested on a selection of papers by multiple members of the study team to ensure that studies were categorised accurately. Based on the piloting process, the eligibility criteria were further modified. The following is the list of the final inclusion and exclusion criteria applied in this study.

Studies were included if they met the following criteria: (1) observational and experimental studies on the relationship between the individual or household financial stress and depression or depressive symptoms; (2) original research in peer-reviewed journals; (3) conducted on general population samples aged 18 and over; (4) used indicators which capture different dimensions of an individual or household financial stress, such as income, assets, debt, wealth, economic hardship, financial strain, financial stress, and financial satisfaction; (5) studies that measure depression through both non-clinical and clinical techniques (e.g., Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), were eligible for this review.

Studies were excluded if they were: (1) systematic reviews, dissertations, conference abstracts, or study protocols; (2) studies focusing on a specific population including female-only, male-only, people with a special occupation (e.g., soldiers), migrants, or people with specific illnesses; (3) studies relating to societal (as opposed individual) economic circumstances (e.g., income inequality measured at the community level or the country level) or shocks to the macroeconomy (e.g., stock market crashes, hyperinflation, banking crises, economic depressions, and financial crisis); (4) studies that only reported the joint association between several socioeconomic determinants and depression. These were included only if the association related to individual or household finances were reported and explained individually; (5) studies based on overall mental health, or other types of mental disorders (e.g., anxiety, suicide, self-harm, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia) where the association between household financial stress and depression was not reported and explained independently.

Study selection

Search strategies were applied to six databases (i.e., CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, EconLit, AMED, and Business Source Premier EBSCO) to generate a long list of candidate studies. All the search results were exported into Mendeley. Search results, after the removal of duplicates, were screened for relevance using the title and abstract information. The full texts of relevant articles were then checked for eligibility based on the selection criteria. Screening and selection were undertaken by two reviewers independently. All authors were consulted when a disagreement arose. The study selection process and reasons for study exclusions were recorded in a flow chart shown in Fig 1 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.g001

Data analysis

A pre-designed data collection form (listed in S2 Appendix ) was used for the data extraction process. The data extracted from the eligible studies covered the following categories: (1) characteristics of studies: year, author, journal, aim of study, countries, study type, data sources, responsible rate, level of study, eligibility of ethical approval; (2) characteristics of the population: sample size, age group, mean age of the participants, gender; (3) depression measures, definition of depression, validity of the measures; (4) measures of financial stress (exposures) used, measures of the exposure, definition of the exposure, validity of the measures; (5) statistical analysis: econometric methodologies, covariates, whether reverse causality was taken into account, whether there are subgroup analyses and methods (6) main results. The key information being extracted is presented in S1 and S3 Tables, which is a simplified version of the extracted data.

This review focused on the association between each dimension of financial stress and depression and analysed the heterogeneity of the association in different contexts. The eligible studies were reviewed narratively, and the results were stratified by different indicators of financial stress (e.g., low income, low assets, low wealth, debt, financial difficulties and so on). Causal inferences and proposed mechanisms underlying the association between financial stress and depression based on the reviewed evidence were discussed in the discussion section. No meta-analysis was conducted to pool the reviewed evidence due to the substantial heterogeneity in the measurements and definitions of the exposure and outcome variables, study context, and methodologies.

Quality assessment

The quality of the included studies was assessed using an adapted version of the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies used in Glonti et al. [ 24 ] (see S3 Appendix ). The original version of this tool is developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) [ 25 ]. Seven key domains relating to study design, selection bias, withdrawals, confounders, data collection, data analysis and reporting were considered. Studies can have between six and seven component ratings. The score of each domain equals 1 if the quality is high, 2 if the quality is moderate and 3 if the quality is low. An overall rating for each study was determined based on the ratings for all domains. The overall rating of studies’ quality was classified as high, moderate, or low. Full details of the design and usage of the quality assessment tool can be found in Glonti et al. [ 24 ]. The quality assessment of the included studies was conducted by two reviewers independently. The results of the quality assessment were based on consensus between the two reviewers.

5,134 papers were identified after searching online databases including CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, EconLit, AMED, and Business Source Premier. The flow chart for the study selection process is displayed in Fig 1 . The total number of papers after removing duplicates was 4,035. Both titles and abstracts of the identified 4,035 papers were screened. 3,763 papers were removed since they did not satisfy the eligibility criteria. The full texts of the remaining 272 papers were accessed and further screened separately by the two reviewers based on the eligible criteria. 235 papers were further excluded leading to 37 studies for consideration. The main reasons for exclusion were that the exposure, the outcome variables of interest, or the targeted population of those studies did not meet the inclusion criteria. Three additional articles were further added after checking the reference lists of all the eligible papers and those of the past relevant review papers [e.g., 18 , 21 ]. 40 articles were finally identified for the data extraction.

Study characteristics

Regarding the number of reviewed studies by years of publication, most of the reviewed studies were published in the past two decades, with a noticeable spike in the last five years. The majority of studies (32 out of 40) reported evidence from high-income European countries and the USA, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Eight studies were based on low- and middle-countries including China, Chile, and South Africa. In terms of study design, 17 studies were cross-sectional, and 23 studies were longitudinal. The age groups considered in the 40 studies vary: 17 studies focused on the general adult population including young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults, while 23 studies focused specifically on working-age, young adults, middle-aged, or older adults. Data of study characteristics were displayed in the data extraction form in S1 Table .

Measures of depression

The most commonly used measure for depression was the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) [e.g., 26 – 28 ]. Various versions of the CES-D were used in the reviewed studies: six studies used the full version, that is, the 20-item CES-D; 19 studies used the shortened version of the CES-D scale. Other measures were also used to assess the individual’s depressive symptoms such as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) [ 29 ], the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) [ 30 , 31 ], a subsection of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ depression) [ 31 – 33 ], the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-IV (AUDADIS-IV) [ 34 ], the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) [ 35 ] and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) [ 15 , 36 , 37 ]. Two studies used self-reported depression by asking participants whether or not they had any experience of depression [ 13 , 38 ].

Measures of financial stress

A wide variety of concepts and measures of financial stress were used across the reviewed studies. The financial exposure in the reviewed studies can be divided roughly into two categories. First, personal or household finances, which include income, assets or wealth, debt or hardship were investigated. These economic indicators were measured in different ways. Some studies measured the total amount of assets while other studies measured assets by counting the number of durable items owned by an individual (such as motor vehicles, bicycles, computers, or cameras) or a household (such as fridges, microwaves, TV, cameras). The measures of debt were more diversified: the onset of debt, the amount of debt in general and of different types of debt, the debt-to-asset ratio, debt problems like over-indebtedness, debt arrears, and debt stress. Financial hardship was defined as difficulties in meeting the basic requirements of daily life due to a lack of financial resources. For example, not having enough money for food, clothes, shelter and medical expenses; being unable to pay bills on time or heat the home; having to sell assets; going without meals; or asking for financial help from others were used by these studies as proxies for financial hardship [ 30 , 39 ]. Second, some studies examined the associations between depression and subjective perceptions of financial stress such as perceived financial hardship (e.g., subjective feelings of insufficiency regarding food, clothes, medical care, etc.), subjective financial situation (e.g., individual’s feelings of their overall financial situation), subjective financial stress, subjective financial position, financial dissatisfaction and so on.

Quality of reviewed studies

Full details of the quality assessment of the 40 included studies are displayed in S2 Table and S1 Fig . An observational study design was utilised in all of the included papers. 29 (72.5%), and 11 (27.5%) studies were rated as methodologically strong [ 6 , 13 – 16 , 20 , 26 – 28 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 37 – 53 ] and moderate [ 29 , 31 , 32 , 35 , 36 , 54 – 59 ], respectively. Among the 40 included studies, 34 (85%) had a low risk of selection bias, five (12.5%) had a moderate risk and one had a high risk of selection bias. Eight studies were able to be rated on withdrawals and drop-outs: two of them were rated as “strong”, four achieved a “moderate” rating and one received a “weak” rating. We found that 15 studies (37.5%) had a low risk while 25 (62.5%) had a moderate risk of confounding bias. Regarding the data collection, two studies were rated as ‘strong’, 37 received a ‘strong’ score, and one study was rated as ‘weak’. All the studies received a ‘strong’ rating for data analysis except for one study that was rated as ‘weak’. 35 (87.5%) studies received a ‘strong’ rating for reporting, while five studies had a ‘moderate’ quality of reporting.

Association between income and depression

Eleven studies were identified examining the relationship between individual or household income levels and depression. All controlled for other socioeconomic confounders or/and health status. Seven studies found a statistically significant association between low income and a higher risk of depressive symptoms after adjustment. The positive association between low income and depression was reported in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries and found in different age groups (i.e., younger adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults).

The intertemporal relationship between individual or household income and depression was investigated in three longitudinal studies [ 20 , 34 , 58 ]. Osafo et al. found that in the UK, an increase in household relative income (i.e., income rank) was statistically related to a decreased risk of depression at a given time point [ 58 ]. The effect of household income at baseline on the risk of showing depressive symptoms in the following time point was weakened but still statistically significant, controlling for the baseline depression level. Lund and Cois reported similar results: they found that lower household income at baseline could predict a worse depression status during the follow-up period in South Africa [ 20 ]. Based on evidence from the US, Sareen et al. found that individuals with lower levels of household income faced an increased risk of depression compared to those with higher levels of household income [ 34 ]. Furthermore, a reduction in income was also related to an increased risk of depression [ 34 ].

Focusing on pension income, which is one of the main sources of household income for the retired population, Chen et al. found that pension enrolment and pension income were significantly associated with a reduction in CESD scores among Chinese older adults, controlling for other socioeconomic factors and health status [ 43 ].

The strength of the relationship between income and depression varies and can be affected by how income is measured. For example, compared to absolute income, a household’s relative income level within a reference group was found to be a more consistent household financial predictor of depression [ 58 ]. Osafo et al. compared the effect of relative income with that of the absolute value of household income [ 58 ]. They found that a deterioration in the rank of household income was associated with a higher possibility of showing depression at a given time point, as well as the subsequent time point [ 58 ].

The relationship between income and depression holds for all income groups but is more pronounced among lower-income groups. According to Zimmerman and Katon, the association between depression and income is stronger among people with income levels below the median [ 16 ]. Based on a quasi-natural experiment, Reeves et al. also found that the reduction in housing benefits significantly increased the prevalence of depression for low-income UK households [ 38 ]. Additionally, the association between pension income and depressive symptoms in older adults were more pronounced among lower-income groups [ 43 ]. More broadly, the income-depression relationship might be influenced by the economic status of the regions where households live. For example, Jo et al. found that the association between income and depression was significant among participants from low-economic-status regions, while it was insignificant among participants from high-economic-status regions [ 55 ].

Association between material assets and depression

Two studies on the relationship between assets and depression were identified: one cross-sectional study [ 29 ] and one longitudinal study [ 20 ]. Those studies showed that assets were a significant predictor of depression after controlling for demographic and other socioeconomic confounders. Furthermore, the household assets-depression association was found to be stronger for individuals with lower levels of assets at baseline [ 20 , 29 ]. The directions of the assets-depression relationship were investigated in one study. Lund and Cois simultaneously examined both directions of the relationships using a nationally representative survey on South Africa [ 20 ]. They found that low levels of individual and household material assets were significantly related to depression in the follow-up period after controlling for age, gender, race and education. Conversely, having more depression symptoms at baseline was significantly associated with lower levels of individual assets in the follow-up period [ 20 ].

Association between wealth and depression

Three studies explored the relationship between wealth and depression in adults. All of them were based on high-income country contexts including the UK and the US and suggested a positive relationship between individual or household low wealth and depression among middle-aged and older adults. Two longitudinal studies examined the association between wealth and depression. Specifically, Pool et al. found that an increase in household wealth was statistically related to a decrease in the risk of depressive symptoms [ 50 ]. Osafo et al. compared the effect of relative wealth (i.e., wealth rank) and absolute wealth on depressive symptoms [ 58 ]. Their results showed that, instead of the absolute wealth, the wealth rank within a social comparison group was the primary driver of the association between wealth and depressive symptoms [ 58 ]. The strength of the relationship between wealth and depression varies according to the level of wealth at baseline [ 58 ]. For example, Martikainen et al. found the association between household wealth and depression was most pronounced among the lowest wealth group [ 33 ].

Association between debt and depression

Fourteen studies investigated the association between debt and depression and provided empirical evidence based on high-income countries (Europe and the US) and Chile. Three studies were cross-sectional and all of them reported a positive association between debt (assessed by student debt, the occurrence of any debt, or unsecured debt) and depressive symptoms after controlling for demographic and other socioeconomic factors [ 6 , 27 , 53 ]. Eleven longitudinal studies identified by this review investigated the association between debt and depression over time. The definitions and measures of debt vary across studies. Associations between the occurrence and/or amount of financial debt, the occurrence and/or amount of housing debt, excessive mortgage debt, the occurrence of any debt, the debt-to-asset ratio, and the debt-to-income ratio, on the one hand, and depression, on the other, were investigated in the reviewed studies.

The association between changes in debt status and changes in depressive symptoms was investigated in six studies. Specifically, using five waves of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), Hiilamo and Grundy found that both men and women switched from having no financial debt to having substantial financial debt suffered from a deterioration in depressive symptoms [ 28 ]. Also, switching from no mortgage debt to having substantial mortgage debt was positively associated with the deterioration in depressive symptoms among women [ 28 ]. Using a large nationally representative dataset from the Chilean Social Protection Survey (SPS), Hojman et al. also found that individuals who were always over-indebted or switch from having moderate levels of debt to over-indebtedness had more depressive symptoms than those who were never over-indebted [ 46 ]. Additionally, they found that those who were not over-indebted, regardless of the previous debt status, did not experience a worsening in depression, showing that the effect of over-indebtedness on depressive symptoms faded away as the debt levels decreased [ 46 ].

Various measures of debt were used in the reviewed studies such as the occurrence of debt [ 26 , 27 , 53 ], the amount of debt [ 6 , 14 , 26 , 28 , 53 ], and the debt-to-income ratio or debt-to-asset ratio [ 14 , 46 , 48 ]. The debt-depression relationship varies with different operationalisations of debt with the debt to asset ratio being a more reliable predictor of depression than the total debt. Both Sweet et al. and Hojman et al. found that only the debt-to-assets ratio or debt-to-income ratio (rather than the absolute amount of debt) were consistently and positively associated with higher depression scores before and after adjustment (see S1 and S3 Tables for details of the covariates used) [ 14 , 46 ].

Different types of debt such as secured debt (e.g., mortgage debt) and unsecured debt (e.g., consumer debt) might be related to the depression in different ways. The reviewed studies reported a positive association between high levels of mortgage debt and high unsecured consumer debt (regardless of the amount) and depression [ 14 , 48 , 53 ]. For example, Leung and Lau examined the causal relationship between mortgage debt and depressive symptoms and found that a high level of mortgage indebtedness (defined as a mortgage loan to home value ratio over 80%) was associated with more depressive symptoms among mortgagors [ 48 ]. Both Zurlo et al. and Sweet et al. found that unsecured debt (e.g., consumer debt) was a significant predictor of more depressive symptoms [ 14 , 53 ]. Three studies compared the effect of different types of household debts on depression [ 26 , 28 , 46 ]. The results of those three studies suggested that the association between household debt and depressive symptoms was predominantly driven by short-term debt. Specifically, unsecured debt (e.g., financial debt), or short-term debt were associated with a higher risk of experiencing depression, while secured debt itself (e.g., mortgage debt) or long-term debt were not related to depressive symptoms. For example, using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), Hiilamo and Grundy found that household financial debt was positively and significantly associated with more depressive symptoms, while the effect of household housing debt on depression was weak or even insignificant [ 28 ]. Berger et al. found a similar result using longitudinal data from the US. Their results (controlling for baseline characteristics and socioeconomic factors) showed that only short-term debt (i.e., unsecured debt) was positively and statistically significantly associated with depressive symptoms, while the effects of mid-term and long-term debt (e.g., mortgage loan) on depressive symptoms were not significant [ 26 ].

However, it is not always the case that the association between debt and depressive symptoms is only driven by consumer debt. As reported in two longitudinal studies by Hiilamo and Grundy and by Gathergood, a secured debt like mortgage might be associated with depression when the secured debt becomes a problem debt [ 28 , 32 ]. Hojman et al. found that mortgage debt had no association with depressive symptoms, while consumer debt was positively and significantly related to more depressive symptoms [ 28 ]. Nevertheless, both Hojman et al. and Alley et al. found that mortgage arrears had a significant effect on more severe depression, even when the effect of consumer debt on depression was controlled [ 40 , 46 ]. In line with their study, Gathergood also found that housing payment problems were strongly associated with a higher depression score [ 32 ].

Association between financial hardship and depression

The association between financial hardship and depression was reported in four studies, all of which were based on high-income countries such as the US and Australia [ 15 , 30 , 39 , 52 ]. They all observed a cross-sectionally positive relationship between financial hardship and depression, which holds after adjustments (see S1 and S3 Tables for details of the covariates used). The intertemporal association between financial hardship and depressive symptoms was reported in two longitudinal studies [ 15 , 39 ]. However, the consistency of the findings is sensitive to the statistical methods applied. Mirowsky and Ross found that current financial hardship was associated with a subsequent increase in depression in the US [ 39 ]. The other study only observed an association between financial hardship at baseline and baseline depression, as well as a weak or even no association between prior financial hardship and current depression [ 15 ]. When the same statistical strategy was applied, the findings from Butterworth et al. were consistent with those were observed in Mirowsky and Ross’s study [ 15 , 39 ].

Furthermore, the reviewed studies showed that the effect of past financial hardship on depressive symptoms decayed with time. In other words, current financial hardship mattered the most for current depressive symptoms. Following Mirowsky and Ross, changes in financial hardship were stratified into four types [ 39 ]. An individual experiencing (not experiencing) current financial hardship and hardship in the past belongs to the always hardship group (no hardship group). An individual experiencing only current (past) financial hardship belongs to the new hardship group (resolved hardship group). Mirowsky and Ross found that the effects of consistent hardship and new financial hardship (3 years later) on depressive symptoms were positive and significant [ 39 ]. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the follow-up depressive symptoms between the consistent hardship group and the new hardship group [ 39 ]. Furthermore, the association between both resolved hardship and no hardship on depressive symptoms was not significant [ 39 ]. Consistent with this, Butterworth et al. also found that the individuals who currently experienced financial hardship were more likely to have depression than those who only experienced financial hardship in the past or never experienced it [ 15 ].

Age was the most analysed moderator of the association between financial hardship and depressive symptoms among the reviewed studies. This review found that there is no consistency in terms of the association between financial hardship and depression across different age groups. Butterworth et al. reported that the effect of financial hardship on depressive symptoms increased with age among Australian adults [ 30 ]. However, Butterworth et al. and Mirowsky and Ross reported different results [ 15 , 39 ]. Specifically, they found that the positive association between financial hardship and depressive symptoms decreased with age in the US. In contrast to the two studies listed above, Butterworth et al. did not find any statistically significant differences regarding this association among different age cohorts in Australia [ 15 ].

Association between subjective financial strain and depression

Eleven studies examined the association between subjective financial indicators (i.e., subjective financial strain, financial dissatisfaction or financial stress) and depression, providing empirical evidence based on high-income countries (Europe, the US, the UK, Japan and Korea) and on China. All of them (including four cross-sectional and seven longitudinal studies) reported a positive relationship between subjective financial strain and depression, holding after adjustments (see S1 and S3 Tables for details of the covariates used)). The intertemporal association between subjective financial strain and depression was reported in two studies [ 44 , 59 ]. For example, Richardson et al. found that increased subjective stress at baseline was associated with greater depression over time [ 59 ]. Similarly, Chi and Chou also found that higher levels of subjective financial strain measured at baseline were associated with more depressive symptoms after three years among Chinese older people [ 44 ]. The association between changes in subjective financial strain and depression was found in one longitudinal study [ 49 ]. Using data from the annual Belgian Household Panel Survey, Lorant et al. found that the worsening subjective financial strain was significantly associated with the increased risk of depressive symptoms and that of caseness of depression [ 49 ].

The positive and significant association between perceived financial strain in childhood and depression in adults was found in both a cross-sectional study and a longitudinal study [ 42 , 47 ]. Using cross-sectional data from 19 European countries in 2014, Boe et al. found that younger adults (25–40) who had experienced financial difficulties as children had higher depression scores in adulthood, while older adults (over 40) did not [ 42 ]. A similar association between adverse childhood financial situation and adults’ depression was also found in a longitudinal study [ 47 ]. Based on a national representative sample of 9,645 South Korean adults without depressive symptoms at baseline, Kim, et al. found that experiencing financial difficulties in childhood was associated with the increased chance of depression in adulthood [ 47 ]. Furthermore, the effect of experiencing financial difficulties in childhood on depression was weaker than that of current financial difficulties [ 47 ].

The gender difference of the association between perceived financial strain and depression was examined in two studies and no statistical difference between females and males was observed, though women tended to report worse depression [ 36 , 44 ].

Summary and discussion of the findings

This systematic review is the most comprehensive synthesis of observational studies quantifying the association between indicators of financial stress and depression in both high- and low- and middle-income countries to date. Findings regarding the relationship between financial stress and depression vary across different indicators of financial stress. Economic indicators such as material assets, unsecured debt, financial hardship, and subjective measures of financial stress are relatively strong and persistent predictors of depressive symptoms, while absolute income and wealth levels have an inconclusive association with depression. The only longitudinal evidence on relative income and relative wealth suggests a stronger relationship between relative income or relative wealth and depressive symptoms than that between absolute income or wealth and depression. Additionally, this review finds that the association between indicators such as income, material assets or wealth and depression is more pronounced in lower socioeconomic groups (i.e., low income or low wealth group). This review is unable to make a conclusion regarding the association between debt and depression across different socioeconomic subgroups. The only evidence is provided in one study showing that there is no difference in the association between debt and depression by assets level. Additionally, there is insufficient evidence to conclude a common pattern regarding the association between financial stressors and depression by gender or age groups, though differences of this relationship across age or gender groups are observed in some of the reviewed studies.

The income-depression association is inconclusive, although income is one of the most commonly used indicators of the individual or household’s economic situation. The reviewed studies consistently reported a positive association between low income and depressive symptoms in univariable analyses. However, this association was largely reduced or even became insignificant when other social and economic factors (such as educational level, employment status and so on) and health status were controlled for [ 31 , 33 ]. The findings are consistent with the results from the previous reviews and empirical research where different mental disorders were considered including depression [ 18 , 23 , 60 ]. It is likely that income has a close correlation with other dimensions of the socioeconomic condition such as educational levels and employment status that affect an individual’s mental health independently from income per se [ 23 ].

Furthermore, this review finds that compared to absolute income (or wealth), relative income (or wealth) in a reference group is a more important risk factor of depression. There is evidence showing a positive association between low-income ranks and current depression scores as well as follow-up depression scores, while no association is found between absolute low income and depression [ 58 ]. The findings here are in line with the previous review, which mainly focused on the association between income inequality and depression [ 61 ]. Patel et al.’s review concluded that a higher level of income inequality at the neighbourhood level was strongly associated with a higher risk of depression [ 61 ]. This review only identified one study investigating the association between relative income or relative wealth and depression. The insufficient evidence on this topic suggests the need for more research to investigate the mental health effects of relative income (or wealth).

Some of the reviewed studies have suggested a positive association between debt and depression despite the substantial heterogeneity in definitions and measurements of debt, study methods, study contexts, and targeted population. The association between debt and depressive symptoms is mainly driven by unsecured debt (e.g., credit card) or late mortgage payments. Secured debt (e.g., mortgage debt) per se is not associated with depressive symptoms. However, depression may still be more likely when individuals or households are no longer able to manage their debt or perform debt obligations. For example, the reviewed evidence shows that mortgage arrears have a significant effect on more severe depression, even when the effect of consumer debt and mortgage debt on depressive symptoms are considered within the same model [ 46 , 48 ]. The findings regarding the relationship between debt and depression are consistent with the findings from the previous reviews on the association between debt and health where depression was one of the outcomes [ 22 , 62 ].

An important consideration regarding the debt-depression relationship is that having personal or household debt does not always lead to depression, as debt is not always a sign of financial problems. Some personal and household loans are taken to finance housing purchases, business, and investments, which are granted based on the borrower’s financial situation and payback abilities. Additionally, except for stress, debt might also bring benefits to mental well-being by generating consumption, feelings of attainment or satisfaction or making investments [ 63 , 64 ]. As a result, the financial stress derived from debt could be partially offset by such positive mental well-being effects. The review suggests that future longitudinal research on the impact of debt on depression should consider mediators to understand the nature of the causal association between debt and mental health.

It should be noted that nearly a half of the reviewed studies are cross-sectional, limiting the ability to draw a conclusion on the directions and the causality of the associations between some indicators of financial stress and depression. A few of the longitudinal studies considered the reverse relationship and/or the unobserved bias using econometric methods. The majority of these longitudinal studies mainly focused on the relationship between debt or subjective measures of financial stress and depression. They provide supportive evidence that, debt and subjective financial stress might lead to subsequent depressive symptoms. Longitudinal evidence remains limited as to the understanding of both directions and causality of the relationships between other indicators of financial stress and depression. For example, only three longitudinal studies provided an exploration of the association between income and depression. The casual relationship between some indicators of financial stress (such as low income, material assets, wealth, financial hardship) and depression should therefore be interpreted with caution.

This review includes a number of studies focusing on the older-aged population. The signs of the relationship between financial stress and depression in different age subgroups do not show a significant difference. Despite this, it should be noted that there might be heterogeneity in the magnitude of the relationship between financial stress and depression across different age subgroups. However, it is difficult to identify if including the studies based on adults aged 50 and over would make the generalisability of the findings towards this population. Because a cross-study comparison is almost impossible as there is a substantial heterogeneity in different studies regarding country contexts, measurements of exposures and outcome variables, study methods and so on.

Based on the reviewed evidence, three possible mechanisms may be behind the relationship between financial stress and depression.

Social causation.

Firstly, as highlighted in the introduction, the effects of financial stress on depression can be explained by social causation theory. The reviewed evidence supports the social causation pathway according to which individuals or households who have low income or low wealth are more likely to be exposed to economic uncertainty, unhealthy lifestyle, worse living environment, deprivation, malnutrition, decreased social capital and so on [ 20 , 47 , 65 ]. Those factors might lead to a higher risk of developing depressive symptoms. Individuals or households with limited financial resources are more vulnerable to stressful financial events, which might increase the risk of experiencing depression. This mechanism is applicable to the studies where financial stress is measured by economic indicators related to poverty, such as income poverty, deprivation, and financial hardship.

Psychological stress.

The reviewed studies also show that subjective measures of financial stress have adverse effects on depression. Indeed, some studies state that subjective financial stress is more important than objective measures such as the amount of debt [ 13 , 41 , 66 ]. Objective indicators of financial stress might have an indirect effect on depression, which is mediated by the individual’s perception of those objective indicators as resulting in financial stress. Experiencing a similar objective financial situation, people may report different perceptions of the objective financial situation due to the heterogeneity of personal experiences, abilities to manage financial resources, aspirations, and perceived sufficiency of financial resources [ 67 ]. For example, individuals with limited financial resources are more likely to be concerned about the uncertainty of the future financial situation. The expectation of financial stress, not just their occurrence, may also cause depression. Furthermore, people living in poverty face substantial uncertainty and income volatility. The long-run exposure to stress from coping with this volatility may also threaten mental health [ 68 ]. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that both the respondent’s perception of financial stress and objective measures of financial stress lie at the heart of the relationship between financial stress and depression.

Social selection.

Other studies suggest that depression might negatively impact the finances of individuals [ 20 , 69 ]. Social selection theory states that individuals who have mental disorders are more likely to drift into or maintain a worse financial situation [ 20 ]. Evidence shows that mental problems might increase expenditure on healthcare, reduce productivity, and lead to unemployment, as well as be associated with social stigma, all of which are related to lower levels of income [ 18 , 65 , 70 ]. However, some scholars argue that the relative importance of social causation and social selection varies by diagnosis [ 71 ]. Social causation theory is more important to the relationship between financial stress and depression or substance use; while social selection theory is more important in relation to severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia [ 70 , 72 ].

Limitations of the review

This systematic review is the first to comprehensively pool observational studies on the association between individual or household finances and depression or depressive symptoms. However, this review is subject to several limitations. First, since there is substantial heterogeneity in the measurements and definitions of exposure (financial stress) and the outcome variable (depression), targeted populations, and methodologies between studies, a meta-analysis combining the data from the reviewed studies is neither appropriate nor practical. As such, only a narrative approach is used in this review without quantitatively synthesising the data from the studies, which are difficult to compare. Second, the majority of studies reported evidence on high-income countries like the US, the UK, European countries. Therefore, the conclusions of this review are more immediately generalisable to these contexts as opposed to low-and middle-income country contexts. Third, this review undertakes the search on six databases for any related peer-reviewed journal articles without searching for other resources to find grey or unpublished literature and conference abstracts. Excluding the unpublished studies might limit the findings of this review since studies with significant results are more likely to get published [ 73 ]. The published studies may lead this review to overestimate the associations between any financial exposures and depressive symptoms. Fourth, the included exposures in this review are the most direct indicators (i.e., proximal indicators) of financial stress. The findings in this review might not be generalisable to the relationship between a distal factor (e.g., job loss) and depression. Evidence has suggested that a significant life event or experience, for example, job loss, is associated with financial stress and thereby can predict subsequent major depression [ 74 ]. Future review on financial stress and mental health outcomes might benefit from further including the effect of distal factors (such as job loss, changes in working hours, changes in marital status, and so on) on mental health.

Implications

This review has a number of implications for public policy around financial circumstances and depression. Firstly, it highlights the role that measures aimed at alleviating financial poverty and inequality could have in improving public mental health. Secondly, it suggests attention needs to be focused on unsecured debt as a public health measure. For example, providing financial counselling services and financial education to those who have debt stress and depression may help them to effectively deal with individual debt problems and associated depression. Meanwhile, the regulation of unsecured debt markets is crucial to the sustainable development of unsecured lending markets, and thereby supports both financial health and mental health. Thirdly, this review highlights the importance of targeted interventions to break the cycle of financial stress and depression. For example, instead of a one-for-all intervention focusing on the general population, interventions targeted at lower socioeconomic groups might be more effective since the association between financial stress and depression is more pronounced in these groups.

In terms of practical support, the interdisciplinary collaboration of psychologists and financial professionals in the development of interventions aiming to break the vicious cycle of depression and financial stress could be useful. For example, interventions such as poverty alleviation programs, the provision of financial advice or financial education might have a beneficial influence on mental health. The collaboration of policymakers in both mental health areas and financial areas might create win-win situations, having mutual benefits for both areas and saving costs to society in the long run.

Finally, this review highlights the need for further research in certain areas. First, this review suggests that more longitudinal research or randomised control trials (where feasible) are needed to further clarify the directions of the causal relationships and possible mechanisms between different financial stressors and depression or other mental disorders. A better understanding of this can help to design more effective interventions either aimed at alleviating financial stress or at improving mental health. For example, anti-poverty programs such as direct cash transfers might be more helpful for families in poverty or deprivation, where social causation plays the main role in the effect of financial stress on depression. However, if financial stress is due to social comparison, rather than absolute poverty, challenging social attitudes may be more beneficial. This review also calls for more future research to investigate the heterogeneity of the relationship and the difference in the direction of the relationship between financial stress and depression or other mental disorders across different populations. This would provide more precise and solid evidence for developing targeted interventions as noted above.

Second, this review finds that the majority of the existing studies on the financial stress-depression relationship are based on high-income countries. However, low-and middle-income countries have higher levels of poverty and economic inequality, as well as a high economic burden caused by mental disorders and low levels of investment in mental health [ 69 , 75 ]. Therefore, more future research that is based on low-and middle-income country contexts would be important.

In conclusion, this systematic review of the link between financial stress and depression in adults found that financial stress is positively associated with depression, in particular among low socioeconomic groups. The findings suggest directions for policymakers and the need for greater collaboration between psychology and financial professionals, which will be beneficial to developing targeted interventions either to mitigate depression or alleviate financial stress. Further longitudinal research would be useful to investigate the causality and mechanisms of the relationship between different dimensions of financial stress and depression.

Supporting information

S1 checklist. prisma checklist..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s001

S1 Fig. Quality assessment of the reviewed studies.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s002

S1 Table. Basic characteristics data extraction.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s003

S2 Table. Quality assessment form.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s004

S3 Table. Methods and findings extraction form.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s005

S1 Appendix. Sample search in PsycINFO.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s006

S2 Appendix. Data extraction form.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s007

S3 Appendix. Quality assessment tool following Glonti et al. (2015) [ 24 ].

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264041.s008

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped to improve and clarify the manuscript.

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• 69. Ridley M, Rao G, Schilbach F, Patel V. Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research; 2020.
• 71. Dohrenwend BP, Levav I, Shrout P, Schwartz S, Neveh G, Link BG, et al. Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and psychiatric disorders: A test of the social causation-social selection issue. In: Dohrenwend BP, editor. Oxford University Press; 1998. p. 285–318.

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12 Good Titles for Essays on Mental Health or illness Topics

Mental Health Titles

Our psychological, emotional, and social well-being define our mental health. Mental health is very crucial in all stages of life. It determines how we relate to each other in society.

It also determines how we make choices and handle stress. Your behaviour, mood, and thinking can be affected whenever you experience mental health problems. Mental health problems can be caused by biological factors, family history, and life experiences such as abuse and trauma.

Mental health problems are very common in our society today, but help is available. Being affected by mental health problems is not the end of the world. People suffering from mental health can be treated, get better, and recover completely.

Need Help with your Homework or Essays?

Importance of writing about mental health, providing more information on mental health.

In the world we live in today people may be mentally unwell but they don’t see it. Some don’t know what to do to solve mental health problems.

Writing about mental health can help people understand and know when they have mental health problems and what to do to treat them.

Removing Stigma

The more and more mental health is written about the more likely the society is to forget about all false notions that surround the topic of mental health.

Debunking myths surrounding mental health help remove the stigma surrounding it.

The Increase in Mental Health Disorders

Mental health problems are on the rise. All people, young and old, are facing a lot of challenges that lead to mental health disorders. Writing about mental health will help reach these growing numbers and make them aware of what they are facing and how they can beat it.

Promote Treatment and Reduce Mental Health-Related Suicides

Writing about ways in which mental health can be tackled helps many people emerge victorious in the fight against it. This can massively help reduce suicides that are committed by people suffering from mental disorders.

How to Write a Mental Health Essay?

If you are given a task on writing about mental health, it is important to follow these guidelines:

Using Words That End Stigma

Words, even when not intended to be disparaging, carry a lot of weight on particular groups.

Psycho, crazy, lunatic , and deranged and examples of words that reinforce stereotypes about mental illness.

These words can discourage the affected from taking treatment. 

Respect The Difference Between a Mental Disorder and an Emotion

When football teams lose cup finals, the fans are disappointed and not depressed. Disappointment is a temporary feeling which will go away. It is different from depression.

People who are depressed don’t even know the reason or the symptoms they are having.

Watching a team lose is nervous and anxious, but the agitation cannot prevent the fans from keeping up with their normal routines, unlike victims of anxiety disorder. 

Putting People First

It is correct to say: a person with depression. It is not correct to say: a depressed person. The use of person-first language is important. Avoid the phrasing that could be perceived as describing someone by the illness they are suffering. 

Not Conflicting Mental Illness to Violence or Crime

Mental health writers should not fall into the trap of news reporting that wrongly links mental illness and violent crimes.  Mental health issues should be purely about mental health.

Contrary to what the news show, people suffering from mental health are more likely to be crime victims.

Being Precise, Using Value-Neutral Terminologies, and Avoiding Euphemisms

Phrases like battling and suffer from should be avoided. Suffer from indicates pity and can make one mismanage their illness.

Battling creates a conscious understanding of winners versus losers and simplifies a person’s experience more. People may feel they are not fighting well if they don’t get well.

Generalizations Should Be Avoided

The term mentally ill should not be used. Mental illness is okay as a general term but specific conditions should be used whenever possible. 

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12 Good Titles for Essays About Mental Health

In this section, we list 12 examples of titles you can adopt for an essay on mental health or mental illness. These are just a few of the many ideas.

We also explain how you can approach it and a short guide on the direction your essay should take. You can read how to structure an essay for more guidance on the best way to approach essays.

1. Contemporary Practical Management Approach to Treating Personality Disorders

Personality disorder treatments in mental health patients in the previous days were based on drugs and medicine.

This research will look to address contemporary practical ways in which the extent of personality disorder affecting the mental state of individuals who have the disease can be managed. 

2. The Impact of Social Media Products On the Wellbeing of Adults

Social media impact studies have only been carried out on teenagers. Adults also use social media platforms and this study will investigate how the platforms can affect their wellbeing.  Is the impact mostly positive or negative?

3. Are Women Likely to Suffer from Mental Disorders Compared to Men? 

This is a comparative analysis of whether women are indeed likely to suffer from mental disorders compared to men.

The role that biological and societal actors play in determining the trend will be provided.

The validity of arguments that show women are likely to suffer mental disorders will be evaluated. 

4. Theoretical Analysis of the Impact of Emotional Attachment on Mental Health

Theories that have been developed around emotional attachment to show how emotional attachment can play a role in harming individual mental health will be analyzed. A lot of theories show how emotional attachment can negatively impact the mental well-being of an individual. 

5. Roles Parents Play in Determining the Mental Wellbeing of Their Children

It is assumed that when children reach a certain age, parents stop playing their roles in ensuring the mental health and well-being of their children.

This essay will show that even when children become adults their relationships with their parents will always a role in how their mental wellbeing is transformed. 

6. How Social Media Friendships Contribute to Poor Mental Health

This essay will seek to explain the different mindsets of people in the world today. It will further address how social media networking and friendships can lead to poor mental health.

It will assess how social media lead to a lack of self-acceptance, self-comparison, self-pity, self-loathing, and depression. 

7. How Poor Mental Health Can Impact Your Physical Health

This study will seek to know all the side effects of poor mental health on the body of the affected. Many people in society believe that physical ailments are caused by deteriorating mental health in individuals.

The study will also suggest treatments for many physical ailments that are caused by poor mental wellbeing. 

8. Impact of Television Adverts On the Mental Health O Children

How can television advertising affect the mental development of young children? Many children watch television. It has been established that television advertising can harm the mental health of children.

9. The Relationship Between Mental Health and Unemployment

This topic aims to address problems that are faced by individuals after mental blocks develop due to unemployment. It will play a part in reducing the number of people depressed due to unemployment in the future.

10. The Impact of Coronavirus On the Mental Health of People

Death, isolations, and quarantines caused by the spread of coronavirus have hurt the mental health of the victims, their families and, health workers. All the impacts the virus has had on the mental health o people will be addressed.

11. Mental Health Problems That the Minority in The Society Are Likely to Ace

This essay seeks to investigate mental problems on minority groups of people that are caused by discrimination, physical abuse, societal abuse, and unfair acts at their workplaces. The study seeks to address these issues to promote harmony, equality, and diversity. 

12. Effectiveness of The Provision of Mental Health Care Services. 

Have mental health care services helped control the rates of mental health? Are people aware of these services? Is the importance of the services being felt in society?

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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Older Adults and Mental Health

Why is it important to take care of our mental health as we age.

As people age, they may experience certain life changes that impact their mental health, such as coping with a serious illness or losing a loved one. Although many people will adjust to these life changes, some may experience feelings of grief, social isolation, or loneliness. When these feelings persist, they can lead to mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety.

Mental health is important at every stage of life. Effective treatment options are available to help older adults manage their mental health and improve their quality of life. Recognizing the signs and seeing a health care provider are the first steps to getting treatment.

What are symptoms of mental disorders in older adults?

• Noticeable changes in mood, energy level, or appetite
• Feeling flat or having trouble feeling positive emotions
• Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
• Difficulty concentrating, feeling restless, or on edge
• Increased worry or feeling stressed
• Anger, irritability, or aggressiveness
• Ongoing headaches, digestive issues, or pain
• Misuse of alcohol or drugs
• Sadness or hopelessness
• Thoughts of death or suicide or suicide attempts
• Engaging in high-risk activities
• Obsessive thinking or compulsive behavior
• Thoughts or behaviors that interfere with work, family, or social life
• Engaging in thinking or behavior that is concerning to others
• Seeing, hearing, and feeling things that other people do not see, hear, or feel

Mental disorders can be treated : A primary care provider is a good place to start if you're looking for help. They can refer you to a qualified mental health professional, such as a psychologist, psychiatrist, or clinical social worker, who can help you figure out next steps. Find tips for talking with a health care provider about your mental health.

You can learn more about getting help on the NIMH website. You can also learn about finding support  and locating mental health services in your area on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website. 

Health hotlines

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   : The Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. Call or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor. Support is also available via live chat   . Para ayuda en español, llame al 988 . 
• Veterans Crisis Line   : This helpline is a free, confidential resource for veterans of all ages and circumstances. Call 988 then press 1; text 838255 ; or chat online   to connect with 24/7 support.
• Disaster Distress Hotline   : This helpline from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides immediate crisis counseling for people experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. The helpline is free, multilingual, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text 1-800-985-5990 .
• NIH Health Info Lines  

Health topics and resources for older adults

Featured health topics.

• Anxiety Disorders
• Bipolar Disorder
• Coping with Traumatic Events
• Eating Disorders
• Medications: Older Adults
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Suicide Prevention

Featured brochures and fact sheets

Federal resources

• Depression and Aging   : This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage describes signs of depression and how depression can be different for older adults.
• Healthy Aging   : This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services webpage lists links to health resources and services for older adults.
• National Institute on Aging (NIA): Health Topics   : NIA offers health information on various topics, including depression  .
• Older Adult Mental Health   : The National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus offers resources on aging and mental health ( en español  ).
• Resources for Older Adults   : The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration offers publications and digital products for and about older adults.
• Mental Health and Older Adults Facebook Live Q&A : Learn about mental and emotional wellness in later life, signs and symptoms of depression, and ways to maintain and improve mental health.

Research resources

• NIMH Geriatrics and Aging Processes Research Branch : This NIMH branch supports programs of research, research mid-career development, and resource development in the etiology, pathophysiology, and course of mental disorders of late life; the relationships between aging and mental disorders; the treatment and recovery of persons with aging-related disorders; and the prevention of these disorders and their consequences.

Why should older adults participate in clinical trials?

Clinical trials are research studies that look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases and conditions. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Although people may benefit from being part of a clinical trial, they should be aware that the primary purpose of a clinical trial is to gain new scientific knowledge so that others can be better helped in the future.

Researchers at NIMH and around the country conduct many studies with patients and healthy volunteers. We have new and better treatment options today because of what clinical trials have uncovered. Talk to a health care provider about clinical trials, their benefits and risks, and whether one is right for you.

To learn more or find a study, visit:

• NIMH’s Clinical Trials webpage: Information about participating in clinical trials

In addition, NIMH researchers are also studying mental disorders that affect older adults. To find studies being conducted at NIMH, visit Join a Study: Adults .

Our studies take place at the NIH Clinical Center  in Bethesda, Maryland, and require regular visits. If you don’t live nearby, you can find a  clinical trial near you  .

It is important for clinical trials to have participants of different ages, sexes, races, and ethnicities. When research involves a group of people who are similar, the findings may not apply to or benefit everyone. When clinical trials include diverse participants, the study results may have a much wider applicability.

Researchers need the participation of older adults in their clinical trials so that they can learn more about how new drugs, therapies, medical devices, surgical procedures, or tests will work for all people. For more information, check out National Institute on Aging’s What Are Clinical Trials and Studies?  tip sheet.

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• Published: 10 May 2023

Mental health awareness: uniting advocacy and research

Nature Mental Health volume  1 ,  pages 295–296 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Mental Health Month has been observed to reduce the stigma that is associated with mental illness and to educate the public and encourage individuals to make their mental health and wellbeing a priority. It is an important moment to bring the strengths of advocacy groups and researchers together to promote mental health awareness and to improve equity.

Observances have become a popular tool to garner media and notice for topics deserving attention, from medical conditions to public health concerns, commemoration of notable events, or celebration of cultural groups. Codifying the scope and needs connected to an issue or illness through awareness campaigns can provide opportunities for imparting useful information, reducing stigma and marshalling support for policy change. The impact of awareness campaigns can be difficult to measure beyond tallying social media mentions or news stories. Effective advocacy, however, extends beyond traffic and paves the way for the creation of knowledge and partnerships among allies and with those whose interests are being represented. When the magnitude of an issue and the potential for improvement are great and are matched by broad involvement and recognition by stakeholders, the possibility for impact is also great.

Held annually in May, Mental Health Month , also called Mental Health Awareness Month, is an observance with such reach, resonating with many people. Nearly everyone has experience with the challenges that are associated with mental health, either first-hand or through loved ones or in their community. There is a need for education, support and initiative to improve our understanding of the causes of mental health disorders and to increase the availability of resources for prevention and treatment. Mental Health Month also offers the possibility of bringing together groups who often work in parallel, such as mental health advocates and mental health research organizations, that can mutually benefit from each other’s functions and expertise.

Mental Health Month was first established in the US in 1949 by the National Mental Health Association, now known as Mental Health America . At a time more often associated with the outset of the Cold War and Marshall Plan than setting an agenda for domestic mental health and wellbeing advocacy, in the more than 70 years since, Mental Health Month has grown into an international event designed to reduce exclusion, stigma and discrimination against people with mental health conditions or disorders. Mental Health America are joined by other prominent mental health advocacy groups to sponsor related observances: Mental Health Awareness Week Canada (1–7 May, 2023) and Europe (22–28 May, 2023); and federal agencies such as the Substance Use Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ( SAMSHA ) in the US, promoting related public education platforms, including National Prevention Week (7–13 May, 2023).

Observances and awareness campaigns also provide occasions to put mental health in context. Increasing acknowledgment of the role of social determinants, for example, as mechanisms that can increase vulnerability for developing disorders and that drive disparities in mental health are an important framework to underscore as part of promoting mental health awareness. Given the complex and broad scope of people, disorders, conditions and issues under the umbrella of mental health, observances also give us the chance to focus more closely on specific problems or experiences. The theme for Mental Health Month in 2023 is ‘Look Around, Look Within’, which emphasizes the interdependence of mental health and wellness with an individual’s internal and external experiences and environments.

“The ‘Look Around, Look Within’ theme builds on the growing recognition that all humans have mental health needs and that our available resources to build resilience and heal come in many forms — including in the natural world,” explains Jennifer Bright, Mental Health America Board Chair and President of Momentum Health Strategies. “Mental Health America’s strategic plan, focused on NextGen Prevention, carries a similar theme — that the social factors supporting mental health are essential building blocks. These encompass basic needs like healthy food, stable housing, and access to treatment and supports, but they also include spirituality, connection with peers with lived experience, and safe and natural spaces.”

Overlapping with Mental Health Month, Mental Health Foundation sponsors Mental Health Week in the UK (15–21 May, 2023), dedicating this year to raising awareness around anxiety. It shares an individual-centered approach to advocacy. In addition to providing toolkits and resources that point to how prevalent stress and anxiety can be to reduce stigma, it also promotes the accessibility of coping strategies for managing anxiety. As part of the Mental Health Awareness Week campaign, Mental Health Foundation and others use the international symbol of wearing a green ribbon or clothing to physically raise awareness around mental health. Nature Mental Health also incorporates the symbol of the green ribbon on the cover of this month’s issue and as our journal theme color. Green evokes the ideas of vitality, growth, new beginnings and hope — powerful imagery in mental health awareness.

Alongside stories, sponsorships and social media resources, mental health advocacy toolkits and strategy documents include fact sheets and messaging that are shaped and informed by research. Yet, there is often a perception that a divide exists between the mental health advocacy and research spaces, but observances such as Mental Health Month can bridge the two.

According to Lea Milligan, Chief Executive Officer of MQ: Transforming Mental Health , an international mental health research organization, there are complementary approaches and priorities in advocacy and research: “Mental health research can be used to bolster awareness by providing evidence-based information and resources that can help individuals and communities better understand mental health and the factors that contribute to mental health problems. This can include information on risk factors, prevention strategies, and available treatments.”

In addition, increased efforts to involve people with lived experience of mental illness in the research enterprise is a goal that is well-served through connection with advocacy. “While MQ is primarily focused on promoting mental health research, it also recognizes the importance of advocacy in advancing the mental health agenda” suggests Milligan. “MQ advocates for increased funding and support for mental health research, as well as policies that promote mental health and wellbeing. Additionally, MQ seeks to empower individuals with lived experience of mental health conditions to be involved in research and advocacy efforts, and to have their voices heard in the development of policies and programs that affect their lives. MQ provides resources and support for individuals with lived experience who wish to be involved in research or advocacy efforts, including training programs, research grants, and opportunities to participate in research studies.”

Involvement or engagement is certainly one of the most important metrics of advocacy. By strengthening collaboration between advocacy and research organizations and identifying the mutual areas of benefit, such as engagement and increased funding, we may find new ways to green light mental health awareness and action toward mental health equity.

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Sometimes mental effort is associated with unpleasant feelings, study says

by American Psychological Association

If somebody complains that it hurts to think, they may be onto something, as mental exertion appears to be associated with unpleasant feelings in many situations, according to research published in the journal Psychological Bulletin .

"Managers often encourage employees , and teachers often encourage students to exert mental effort . On the surface, this seems to work well: Employees and students do often opt for mentally challenging activities," said senior author Erik Bijleveld, Ph.D., of Radboud University.

"From this, you may be tempted to conclude that employees and students tend to enjoy thinking hard. Our results suggest that this conclusion would be false: In general, people really dislike mental effort."

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 170 studies, published between 2019 and 2020 and comprising 4,670 participants, to examine how people generally experience mental effort. They did so by testing whether mental effort is associated with unpleasant feelings and whether that association depends on the task or the population involved.

The studies used a variety of participants (e.g., health care employees, military employees, amateur athletes , college students ) from 29 countries and involved 358 different cognitive tasks (e.g., learning a new technology, finding one's way around an unfamiliar environment, practicing golf swings, playing a virtual reality game).

In all studies analyzed, participants reported the level of effort they exerted as well as the extent to which they experienced unpleasant feelings such as frustration, irritation, stress or annoyance.

Across all populations and tasks, the greater the mental effort, the greater the unpleasantness experienced by participants.

"Our findings show that mental effort feels unpleasant across a wide range of populations and tasks," said Bijleveld.

"This is important for professionals, such as engineers and educators, to keep in mind when designing tasks, tools, interfaces, apps, materials or instructions. When people are required to exert substantial mental effort, you need to make sure to support or reward them for their effort."

One interesting finding, according to Bijleveld, was that while the association between mental effort and adverse feelings was still significant, it was less pronounced in studies conducted in Asian countries compared with those in Europe or North America.

This fits with the general idea that the aversiveness of mental effort may depend on people's learning history. High school students in Asian countries tend to spend more time on schoolwork than their European or North American counterparts and may therefore learn to withstand higher levels of mental exertion early on in their lives, he said.

More important is the real-world observation that, despite the aversive nature of mentally challenging tasks, people still voluntarily engage in them, said Bijleveld.

"For example, why do millions of people play chess? People may learn that exerting mental effort in some specific activities is likely to lead to reward. If the benefits of chess outweigh the costs, people may choose to play chess, and even self-report that they enjoy chess," he said.

"Yet, when people choose to pursue mentally effortful activities, this should not be taken as an indication that they enjoy mental effort per se. Perhaps people choose mentally effortful activities despite the effort, not because of it."

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Insurance Companies Have Significant In-Network Mental Healthcare Gaps, Data Shows

July 30, 2024

Data highlighting how insurance companies’ reimbursement rates fuel mental healthcare access issues for many Americans.

By: Charlie Health Editorial Team

Clinically Reviewed By: Alyssa Miller-Nur

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Table of Contents

Many Americans lack access to essential healthcare, with in-network mental healthcare benefits being among the most difficult kinds of care to access. Whereas roughly one in six primary care providers (58.4%) participate in any insurance network , only about one in four psychiatrists (42.7%) and less than one in two nonphysician mental healthcare providers (19.3%) participate in any network, according to a 2017 study . 

Various factors contribute to the lack of in-network mental healthcare coverage, including provider shortages and geographic barriers, but insurance limitations are a key driver of coverage gaps. A growing body of research shows that lower insurance reimbursement rates for mental healthcare fuel access issues.

In 2008, lawmakers passed the Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act (MHPAEA), which aimed to prevent insurers from discriminating against mental health and substance use disorder treatments. In theory, it ensures access to mental healthcare coverage. In practice, though, many insurance companies have fallen short of MHPAEA provisions, including reimbursement rate settings, leading Congress to pass a 2020 act requiring insurance companies to prove their compliance with MHPAEA’s care provisions. Still, coverage gaps persist: a recent study analyzing data from commercial insurance databases between 2019 and 2021 found that people cannot access in-network behavioral health treatment as easily as medical or surgical treatment. 

To assess how insurance coverage gaps impact mental healthcare access, Charlie Health looked at the numbers, including data on how many in-network mental healthcare providers are actually available for appointments and which states have the best and worst mental healthcare coverage. 

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You can unsubscribe anytime., patients are up to 10 times more likely to seek out-of-network mental healthcare than medical or surgical care.

According to a 2024 report from the Research Triangle Institute, patients are more likely to seek out-of-network behavioral health benefits than physical care benefits. The study, which analyzed commercial insurance data from 2019 to 2021, found that people are up to 10.6 times more likely to seek out-of-network care from psychologists. It also concluded that patients are 3.5 times more likely to seek out-of-network care for behavioral health clinicians and 8.9 times more likely for psychiatry services. 

Insurance companies reimburse mental health providers 22% less on average than physical health providers

The same 2024 report found that reimbursement rates for in-network office visits with behavioral health specialists were, on average, 22% lower than for medical or surgical clinicians. Also, psychologists and psychiatrists were reimbursed 23% and 19% less, respectively, than physician assistants. 

A 2017 study published in “ Psychiatric Services ” found similar payment disparities between mental and physical health providers. The study concluded that psychiatrists were paid up to 20% less than nonpsychiatrist medical doctors for the same in-network evaluation and management services, depending on the severity of the diagnosis. 

Put another way, for every $1 that insurance companies reimbursed primary care physicians in preferred provider organizations (PPOs) in 2017, they reimbursed behavioral health professionals only 76.2 cents, according to another study . 

Out-of-network reimbursement rates may incentivize providers to avoid working with insurance

Despite low in-network reimbursement rates, some mental health professionals earn more for out-of-network services than non-mental health professionals. The 2017 “ Psychiatric Services” study found that for out-of-network services, psychiatrists received 28% more for patients with low to moderate problems and 6% more for those with moderate to high severity issues compared to nonpsychiatrist doctors. Low payments to psychiatrists within insurance networks can deter them from joining these networks, while higher payments for out-of-network services may encourage them to avoid contracting with insurers altogether, according to the study.

Up to three-quarters of in-network providers may not be available for appointments in some instances

Even if consumers are proactive and seek in-network coverage for their behavioral health needs, they may encounter obstacles. A 2015 study found that researchers could not schedule appointments with nearly three-fourths of the psychiatrists listed as in-network providers with Blue Cross Blue Shield in three major cities. The issues included incorrect contact information and providers who either did not accept insurance or were not accepting new patients. There are similar inaccuracies in nearly half of the entries reviewed in Medicare Advantage directories, one study found .

In-network behavioral healthcare access varies based on state

In-network behavioral healthcare access is not equal across the United States. Every year, Mental Health America (MHA) compiles data on access to insurance, access to treatment, quality and cost of insurance, access to special education, and workforce availability to determine an overall national Access Ranking of all 50 states. 

A high Access Ranking (1-13) indicates that a state provides relatively more access to insurance and mental health treatment. According to the most recent MHA data, states that fall into this category include Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. By contrast, a low range (40-50) indicates that a state provides relatively less access to insurance and mental health treatment. States in the low range include Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. See the full Access Ranking here .

How to access in-network mental healthcare

Accessing in-network mental healthcare services is, first and foremost, a systemic issue. Above all, lawmakers need to require insurance companies to provide equitable reimbursement for mental healthcare services. Below are some other steps that can be taken if you are trying to access in-network mental healthcare. 

Check your insurance plan

Find providers

Schedule an appointment

1. Check your insurance plan

Review your insurance policy to understand what mental health services are covered and which providers are in-network. This information is often available on your insurer’s website, or you can call the customer service line listed on the back of your insurance card. 

2. Find providers

Use your insurance company's online directory or contact providers directly to find in-network mental health providers, including therapists and psychiatrists. Remember to confirm that the provider you choose is still in-network with your insurance, as affiliations can change. You can confirm this by contacting the provider’s office directly or your insurance company.

3. Schedule an appointment

Contact your chosen provider and schedule an appointment. Make sure you provide your insurance details so they can verify coverage and benefits. If you are looking for in-network therapy, consider Charlie Heath . Our mental healthcare services, including intensive therapy programs, are in-network with most major insurance companies as well as Medicaid and TriCare. Complete our quick form to get in touch with a member of the Admissions Team who can verify your benefits and get you started with treatment.

https://mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-access-care-data

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Health-Plans/ManagedCareMarketing/Downloads/Provider_Directory_Review_Industry_Report_Round_3_11-28-2018.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25322445/

https://assets.milliman.com/ektron/Addiction_and_mental_health_vs_physical_health_Widening_disparities_in_network_use_and_provider_reimbursement.pdf

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.201700271?journalCode=ps

https://www.rti.org/publication/behavioral-health-parity-pervasive-disparities-access-network-care-continue

https://www.cms.gov/marketplace/about/oversight/other-insurance-protections/consolidated-appropriations-act-2021-caa

https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/advocacy/federal-affairs/health-insurance-coverage-access-to-care/mental-health-parity

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0325

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/health/us-health-care-spending-global-perspective/index.html

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Understanding mental health in the research environment

Short abstract.

This study aimed to establish what is known about the mental health of researchers based on the existing literature. The literature identified focuses mainly on stress in the academic workforce and contributory factors in the academic workplace.

This study aimed to establish what is known about the mental health of researchers based on the existing literature. There is limited published evidence on the prevalence of specific mental health conditions among researchers. The majority of the identified literature on prevalence relates to work-related stress among academic staff and postgraduate students in university settings.

Survey data indicate that the majority of university staff find their job stressful. Levels of burnout appear higher among university staff than in general working populations and are comparable to “high-risk” groups such as healthcare workers. The proportions of both university staff and postgraduate students with a risk of having or developing a mental health problem, based on self-reported evidence, were generally higher than for other working populations. Large proportions (>40 per cent) of postgraduate students report symptoms of depression, emotion or stress-related problems, or high levels of stress.

Factors including increased job autonomy, involvement in decision making and supportive management were linked to greater job satisfaction among academics, as was the amount of time spent on research. Opportunities for professional development were also associated with reduced stress. UK higher education (HE) and research staff report worse wellbeing, as compared to staff in other sectors, in most aspects of work that can affect workers' stress levels.

The evidence around the effectiveness of interventions to support the mental health of researchers specifically is thin. Few interventions are described in the literature and even fewer of those have been evaluated.

The Royal Society and Wellcome Trust are interested in better understanding the mental health needs of researchers, and what interventions could be used to support them. This reflects the recent focus on mental health among undergraduate students in the UK, and the concern that others in the academic and wider research environment may have mental health needs that have not been as well explored and considered. This study aims to establish what is currently known about the mental health of researchers based on the existing literature.

Over 6 million working-age people in England have a mental health condition at a given time. The most common diagnosable difficulties among working age adults are anxiety and depression, each of which includes a number of different conditions. Less common but still widespread mental health diagnoses include personality disorders and psychoses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Many people will have more than one diagnosis at a time, or receive different diagnoses over time.

The causes and triggers of poor mental health are complex and not fully understood. There is evidence that the vast majority of people who experience poor mental health in adulthood first experienced difficulties as children, often from a young age. Risk factors for poor mental health include having a parent with mental health difficulties, growing up in prolonged poverty and housing insecurity, experiences of abuse, neglect and bullying, and traumatic experiences during childhood. Some groups of people have a heightened risk of poor mental health, including some black and ethnic minority communities, people with long-term physical conditions, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and people with disabilities.

There is mixed evidence about the extent to which a person's experiences of work contribute to their having a mental health difficulty. Survey evidence suggests that workplace factors such as bullying, insecurity and a lack of control are major causes of mental ill health among staff. On the other hand, there is also evidence that work helps many people to recover from an episode of poor mental health, and there is clear evidence that unemployment is a major risk factor for mental and physical ill health.

Mental ill health and work-related stress are key issues for the labour market as they affect productivity through absenteeism and presenteeism, and are associated with high economic costs for individuals, employers and the economy at large. It has been estimated that poor mental health costs employers in the UK £26 billion nationwide each year, equivalent to £1,035 for every employee in the workforce ( Centre for Mental Health, 2007 ).

Little is known about how mental health needs vary across working environments, or about how to tailor interventions to address different working populations.

The aim of this study was to assess what is known about mental health in research environments through a literature review, and it focused on the UK and comparable research systems. A better understanding of researchers' mental health needs will enable the design of more effective interventions to address them, while a better understanding of evidence gaps can also help guide future research efforts in this area. The following research questions guided the study:

• How are “mental health” and “wellbeing” understood in the context of research environments?
• What is currently known about researchers' mental health and wellbeing, and does it differ from that of other populations?
• What interventions are used to support researchers, and what evidence is there of their effectiveness?
• What are the strengths and limitations of the evidence base in this area?

How Are “Mental Health” and “Wellbeing” Understood in Research Environments?

Overall, the existing literature offers little insight into what sets the research environment apart from other workplaces, or into how mental health, stress, and wellbeing are defined in these contexts. Rather, the majority of the literature identified focuses on describing the levels of stress amongst the academic workforce and, in particular, identifying contributory factors within the workplace. There is little available evidence based on objective clinical assessment about the prevalence of clinically defined mental health conditions and their treatment in this context. The focus on wellbeing raises the issue that although the presence of common mental health conditions does correlate with some of the wellbeing scales used commonly in the literature, more serious (e.g. psychotic) mental illnesses are not necessarily aligned with measurement of wellbeing.

The literature is also almost exclusively focused on universities, with many studies covering all university staff, which will include both researchers and non-research staff. Some studies focused more specifically on researchers, and a more limited group within that looked at particular groups of researchers—most commonly PhD students, reflecting the wider focus on (typically undergraduate) students in the literature around this topic. The majority of the existing research is based on survey data, which is subject to sampling biases, relies on self-reporting, and was not triangulated with other objective indicators, such as absence data.

What Is Currently Known About Researchers' Mental Health and Wellbeing, and How It Differs from Other Populations?

Evidence on the prevalence of work-related stress and mental health problems.

Despite widely reported anecdotal evidence and press coverage of a “mental health crisis” in academia, there is limited published evidence regarding the prevalence of specific mental health conditions among researchers. The majority of the literature on prevalence identified through this review relates to the experience of work-related stress (and arguably the risk of developing a mental health condition as a result of exposure to identified stressors) among academic staff and postgraduate students in university settings.

• Survey data indicate that the majority of university staff find their job stressful. Levels of burnout appear higher among university staff than in general working populations and are comparable to “high-risk” groups such as healthcare workers.
• The proportions of both university staff and postgraduate students with a risk of having or developing a mental health problem, based on self-reported evidence, were generally higher than for other working populations.
• Large proportions (>40 per cent) of postgraduate students report symptoms of depression, emotion or stress-related problems, or high levels of stress.

UK national statistics indicate that only 6.2 per cent of staff disclosed a mental health condition to their university, though academics have been found to be among the occupational groups with the highest levels of common mental disorders with prevalence around 37 per cent. It should be noted, however, that prevalence may generally be over-reported in surveys of occupational groups.

Personal Factors That Contribute to Mental Health Outcomes in the Research Workplace

Gender was the key personal factor that emerged as a determinant for mental health (or its reporting), with women reporting more exposure to stress than men, as well as greater challenges around work-life balance. There was also evidence that personality and perceived competence affect mental health as self-critical personalities are more susceptible to stress, though it is also possible that they are more aware of it or more willing to report it. However, it was unclear whether stress was a result of working conditions in the research environment, or whether research settings attracted particular types of individuals. The results on whether age affects mental health were inconclusive, partly as age is often difficult to disentangle from discussions about rank and seniority. Other factors such as disability, sexuality and minority status were mentioned in a small number of articles in the sample, and these articles indicated that these personal factors generally increase stress.

Environmental Factors Commonly Considered in Surveys of Mental Health and Wellbeing in Workplaces

Based on the Health and Safety Executive's framework, and evidence from the wider literature, we identify six key aspects of work that can affect workers' stress levels: work demands, job control, change management, work relationships, support provided by managers and colleagues, and clarity about one's role.

• These aspects of the work environment can be sources of stress or they can help counteract it.
• Findings from studies of university staff and researchers were consistent with the wider understanding of factors that contribute to stress in workplaces.
• Factors including increased job autonomy, involvement in decision making and supportive management were linked to greater job satisfaction among academics, as was the amount of time spent on research. Opportunities for professional development were also associated with reduced stress.

UK higher education (HE) and research staff report worse wellbeing in most of the six aspects, as compared to staff in other sectors.

• In large-scale surveys, UK higher education staff have reported worse wellbeing than staff in other types of employment (including education, and health and social work) in the areas of work demands, change management, support provided by managers and clarity about one's role.
• The only area where higher education staff have reported higher wellbeing in large-scale surveys is in job control, though even here results are mixed across studies. Wide variability was seen among respondents in relation to the level of support provided by managers and colleagues.
• Job insecurity (real and perceived) appears to be an important issue for those working in the research environment, and particularly for early-career researchers, who are often employed on successive short-term contracts.

PhD students face similar challenges to other researchers and higher education staff.

• The main factors associated with development of depression and other common mental health problems in PhD students are high levels of work demands and work-life conflict, low job control, poor support from the supervisor and exclusion from decision making.
• Believing that PhD work is valuable for one's future career helps reduce stress, as does confidence in one's own research abilities.

Some studies suggested that changes to the UK higher education system had brought increased job stress.

• These studies discussed changes that had occurred in the UK higher education system from the 1990s onwards, and had resulted in increased emphasis on accountability, efficiency and performance management. Study authors suggested that these changes could have brought about increases in job stress for staff working in this system.
• However, data explicitly linking the changes to an increase in stress are limited, partly due to a lack of comparable data from before the 1990s.

Staff who can devote a large proportion of their working time to research have better wellbeing.

• Studies found that spending a larger percentage of one's time on research was associated with reduced stress, and that research-only staff reported lower levels of work-life conflict and had better wellbeing than other higher education institution (HEI) staff. However, this may be to some extent confounded by other characteristics of such researchers (e.g. they may be more senior).

Research on emotionally challenging topics can put staff wellbeing at risk.

• Studies showed that staff involved in research on sensitive topics, such as trauma or abuse, may be emotionally affected by the material they encounter in their work and should receive greater support to mitigate the negative impacts of this work.

Outcomes Related to Poor Mental Health and Wellbeing

In addition to considering the extent to which individuals in research environments suffer from mental health issues, it is important for employers and institutions to recognise that these issues have further implications:

• Job stress and poor workplace wellbeing can contribute to reduced productivity—both through absence and, more importantly, through presenteeism, where researchers attend work and are less productive.
• They can also lead to lower levels of commitment to their research and to institutions—which can be seen in high levels of turnover and through negative attitudes in the workplace.
• Effects on job satisfaction are less clear because of the satisfaction researchers gain from intrinsic factors such as the intellectual stimulation of their work. Several studies note that high levels of job-related stress can coexist with high levels of job satisfaction.
• Effects can also spill over into personal and family life.

The overall effects of these negative outcomes on the sector have not been fully quantified, but estimates drawing on broader experience suggest that the costs could be high. An estimate from Shutler-Jones et al (2008) which has several caveats and assumptions, suggests that the costs to the UK HE sector could be more than £500 million per year (c. 5 per cent of the sector's total annual income). Costs to the economy and the country more widely could also be significant due to the lost potential for scientific advances and due to impacts on the availability of research talent if PhD students fail to complete their studies or choose to leave research subsequently.

What Interventions Are Used to Support Researchers, and What Evidence Is There of Their Effectiveness?

Though poor mental health at work is often related to difficulties that are not caused by work (e.g. childhood adversity, family life and other stressors), support in the workplace can offer benefits. However, the evidence around the effectiveness of interventions to support the mental health of researchers specifically is thin. Few interventions are described in the literature and even fewer of those have been evaluated. Where evaluations have been conducted, they are often of limited utility, either because of the evaluation design or the length of follow-up.

Interventions typically focus on stress and wellbeing rather than clinical mental health conditions, reflecting the wider focus in the literature as described above. In addition, the majority of interventions identified aim to support researchers to deal with workplace stress, but they may not be effective in addressing the root causes of that stress or stresses relating to life outside work. The interventions identified can be broadly classified into four groups: policy changes, communication activities, training, and health-promotion activities.

Focusing specifically on the UK, a range of interventions were piloted and evaluated (to a limited extent) as part of a wellbeing initiative by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) around 2009–2011. These offer scope for further investigation and potentially evaluation now that more time has elapsed. Additionally, the project, though completed in 2011, has spawned a network that is now managed by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which may offer a route to identify further ongoing initiatives and potentially a space to pursue and evaluate efforts to address these issues in the HE sector.

What Are the Strengths and Limitations of the Evidence Base in This Area?

The existing evidence base is limited, meaning it is not possible to draw robust conclusions about the mental health status and needs of researchers, and how researchers may differ from other populations in this regard. More work is needed to understand both the mental health needs of researchers and how they can be addressed. Particular gaps include the effectiveness of interventions, prevalence of specific mental health needs (rather than stress) among researchers, and any evidence about researchers outside the academic setting. There are also limitations to the quality and design of many of the studies conducted, such as lack of long-term follow-up and absence of control groups.

Based on the evidence gaps identified and the information available, we suggest the following avenues for further research on this topic:

• Study the prevalence of mental health conditions amongst postdoctoral researchers: Further work on prevalence could use a targeted approach building on the recent work by Levecque et al. (2017) , who used a survey to assess the presence of psychological distress and potential psychiatric disorders in a sample of PhD students and compared the results to those of three other sample populations, and Eisenberg et al. (2007) , who surveyed a sample of undergraduate and postgraduate university students to assess prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders and took steps to address the issue of non-response bias. In particular, we suggest a similar study focusing on postdoctoral researchers, a group that is particularly poorly addressed in the existing literature.
• Map mental health policies and procedures at UK HEIs: The current standard of mental health policies and procedures in UK research institutions is not well understood. We suggest that a mapping of the current policies in place across institutions could be valuable, and could build on standards such as those set out in the Mindful Employer Charter ( Mindful Employer, 2017 ).
• Evaluate the interventions introduced through the HEFCE wellbeing and engagement initiative: The wellbeing initiative established by the HEFCE and subsequently maintained as a network by UCEA offers a range of interventions for evaluation. In the project reporting in 2011, many of the institutions noted that it was too soon to tell whether their interventions had been effective. Though these initiatives generally focus on wellbeing rather than clinical mental health conditions, there is scope to explore with the relevant institutions whether those interventions have developed over the years, and whether data are now available (or could be collected) to provide more useful evaluation of the interventions introduced.
• Investigate and develop the HSE management standards as a framework for workplace mental health management in research environments: As well as providing a framework for workplace stress used in several important surveys, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have also set out management standards that describe an approach to identifying sources of workplace stress and addressing them at an organisational level. It could be useful to work through that approach with a university or a research organisation to identify the mechanisms at play in those environments. Doing so could establish the relevance of the approach in this context, and potentially provide a model that could be used more widely in the sector.
• Conduct more and higher-quality evaluations of mental health interventions and publish their results: Broadly, better-quality evaluations are needed to identify what works in this area. There is a need for high-quality studies to test the effectiveness of interventions.

The research described in this article was prepared for the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust and conducted by RAND Europe.

• Centre for Mental Health. Mental health at work: Developing the business case. 2007. 2017. http://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=4c278a50-8bd6-4aff-9cf3-7667c0770288 As of May 30.
• Eisenberg D., Gollust S. E., Golbertstein E., Hefner J. L. “Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among university students.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2007; 77 (4):534–542. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Levecque K., Anseel F., De Beuckelaer A., Van der Heydan J. and Gisle L. “Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students.” Research Policy. 2017; 46 (4):868–879. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mindful Employer. “Charter for employers”. 2017. http://www.mindfulemployer.net/charter/ As of June 10, 2017.
• Shutler-Jones K. Improving performance through well-being and engagement. 2011. 2017. http://www.qub.ac.uk/safety-reps/sr_webpages/safety_downloads/wellbeing-final-report-2011-web.pdf As of June 10.

Community and Primary Care Research Group

advancing person-centred care

Reflections from the Knowledge Mobilization Network, part 3:  The use of language when working together to support people with mental health problems

Authors: the South-West Knowledge Mobilisation Network.  Collated by Larissa Milden ([email protected]) and approved by network members

Previous blogs:

Part 1: roles needed to implement the Framework Part 2: working together across different sectors

Introduction

The South-West Community Mental Health Knowledge Mobilization Network is an open-invite group which meet regularly to share information about the implementation of the Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults 2019, and the sustainability and continuation of providing mental health services in a manner aligned with the ethos of this Framework. In our recent meeting, we explored the intricate dynamics of language within our various organisations, sectors and communities.

Key Points and Perspectives

Language serves as a powerful tool in our work. We acknowledged the importance of simplifying complex topics and approaching diagnoses with sensitivity to prevent inadvertently causing offence. Moreover, we emphasised the importance of fostering a shared understanding, recognising that context is also key in communication.

While language can serve as a bridge, it can also erect barriers. Clinical terminology, in particular, may unintentionally alienate individuals or come across as insensitive. However, there is a noticeable shift towards more trauma-informed language, which prioritises understanding individuals’ experiences and embracing holistic and non-pathologising perspectives. As clinical meetings increasingly adopt more person-centered language, influenced by evolving terminologies and dialogues, we recognise the importance of allowing language to evolve naturally, rather than imposing rigid changes. Practical tools like glossaries play a crucial role in navigating this linguistic evolution.

Challenges and Reflections on Language Use

Our discussions highlighted challenges stemming from confusion between similar terms in different organisations such as ‘key worker’ and ‘care coordinator,’ emphasising the need for clear role definitions. We stressed the importance of language that fosters inclusivity and reduces anxiety, advocating for shifts from clinical ‘assessments’ to more conversational approaches.

We delved into the nuanced implications of terminology, recognising that words like ‘intervention’ may carry unintended connotations for service users. Building relationships emerged as a cornerstone for facilitating understanding and acceptance of evolving language within our communities.

Best Practices and Future Directions

As we navigate the evolving landscape of language, we highlighted the value of community collectives/ spaces and information sharing in bridging language differences between strategic spaces and grassroots communities. Embracing person-centered language and remaining mindful of the impact language can have on interactions will continue to guide our practices.

In closing, we reminded ourselves of the fundamental humanity underlying our work, emphasising the importance of empathy, understanding, and collaboration. We look forward to ongoing reflection and dialogue on the transformative potential of language in mental health services.

Interested in joining the South-West Community Mental Health Knowledge Mobilisation Network?  Please email [email protected]

This blog post is supported by the  Peninsula Clinical Trials Unit (PenCTU)  and the  NIHR ARC South West Peninsula (PenARC)

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