Broken homes ‘harm mental health’

Family breakdown is leading to a rise in mental illness that costs Britain more than £100 billion a year, a think-tank said.

Children from broken homes were more likely to go on to suffer depression, commit crime and die younger, the Centre for Social Justice said.

It added that mental illness often strikes when people are young, with half of lifetime mental illness, excluding dementia, starting by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the time people were in their mid-20s.

Mental illness cost taxpayers £105 billion a year, the think-tank said.

The report found that children with separated, single or step-parents were “50 per cent more likely to fail at school, have low self-esteem, experience poor peer relationships and have behavioural difficulties, anxiety or depression”.

“Family breakdown and conflict were considered to have the biggest adverse impact on children’s well-being,” the report said.

It also warned that depression and anxiety rates have risen for boys and girls aged 15 and 16 since the mid-1980s, as have behavioural problems such as lying, stealing and disobedience.

The think-tank’s report called for a renewed effort to break the stigma and fear surrounding mental illness, the development of a family-focused approach to treating patients, a bigger role for family doctors and a greater emphasis on recovery from mental illness.

“We are currently interested in family-based solutions, how the greater prevalence of mental disorder in some sections of the black and minority ethnic communities and in the vulnerable can be addressed, and how stigma surrounding mental disorder can be reduced so that people access help earlier and are met with more understanding,” it said.