Why Mental Health Awareness is More Important Than Ever in Scotland.

With mental health conditions in Scotland on the rise, mental health awareness has become increasingly important.

The Scotland 2022 Census revealed that since the previous census in 2011, there has been an increase from 4.4% to 11.3% of people with mental health conditions in Scotland. This data means that around 1 in 9 people in the country suffer from a mental health condition.

Furthermore, the age groups with the highest percentage of people with mental health conditions are 16-24-year-olds and 25-34-year-olds, at 15.4% and 17.5% respectively – both of these figures are over three times higher than previous findings from 2011.

Moreover, females have a higher percentage of reported mental health conditions across all age groups. However, it is important to remember that evidence shows that men experience difficulty talking about their mental health.

There have also been significant increases in people with specific mental health conditions and related behaviours between 2008-2022. This includes people with two or more symptoms of depression or anxiety and people who have ever self-harmed or attempted suicide.

Statistics from The Scottish Health Survey 2022

In 2023, the Mental Health Foundation reported that “30% of adults in Scotland with feelings of anxiety say they are not coping well” and “44% of adults in Scotland with feelings of anxiety say they keep it a secret”. This highlights that there is still a stigma surrounding mental health which prevents some people from feeling comfortable to speak out about how they are feeling.

Envisage asked the public their thoughts on the current state of mental health, which resulted in some revealing statistics.

Statistics from a survey conducted by Natasha Turnbull

As highlighted, 91.5% of respondents believe there is a current mental health epidemic. This implies that people are actively aware that mental wellness is declining and therefore makes it even more important to raise awareness. It is also interesting how 78.7% of people believe this awareness could be raised through media representation, as only 6 out of 47 (12.7%) people believe there is enough representation in the media already.

Envisage was created due to the public's urge to have mental health more frequently represented in the media. It began to feel increasingly important to create a platform that could accurately represent mental health conditions online through both real stories and expert advice. This platform is more crucial than ever – as 72.3% of people agree that hearing stories from people who have experienced mental health issues would be an effective way to raise awareness.

However, it is important to recognise that while awareness can be extremely beneficial, there is no one solution to improving mental wellness. There are numerous other significant factors that can cause poor mental health and can be extremely difficult to overcome. Particularly, financial stress due to reasons such as the cost of living crisis has had a large effect on the wellbeing of people in Scotland.

Data from December 2024 by YouGov (stated by the Scottish Government) shows that 56% of 18-34-year-olds believe that the cost of living crisis has negatively impacted their mental health. This increase could be due to numerous factors, as between March 2021 – March 2024, there has been a 90% rise in gas, electricity and fuel costs. Meanwhile, food costs have risen by 31%.

Clearly, there are improvements that need to be made to increase mental wellness in Scotland. While this requires an element of systemic change, the first steps that anybody can take are to show compassion, actively listen and engage in open conversations about mental health.

We believe that representation is the first of many steps to create a better-educated and well-informed society, a society without stigma.