15% had been denied promotion, and 34% had been dismissed or forced to resign because of a mental health. A further 38% of the respondents reported being teased, harassed, or intimidated at work, while 69% had been put off applying for jobs because of unfair treatment.³⁰ In addition to reducing the employment prospects of people with mental health problems, negative, stigmatising attitudes can impact the health of all employees by hindering the development and implementation of mental health policy. Accepting that mental distress is a normal part everyone's life at some point is essential to building a workable strategy for improving the mental well-being of the workforce

 

Over the past decade, the UK government has responded to the prevalence and impact of mental health problems, their social and economic costs, and the ensuing need to improve awareness and treatment of mental illness.

In 1991, a paper was developed for the Chief Medical Officers' working group on The Health of the Nation*outlining a strategic approach to mental health issues in the UK. The paper is a national response to the World Health Organisation's Health for All by the Year 2000. It sets goals for the achievement of concrete health outcomes and selects mental illness as a priority area.³¹

During the 1990s, the British government launched a public information campaign to increase understanding of mental health problems, reduce stigma, and help individuals with mental illness understand their rights and

United Kingdom, the health of the nation -key points

 

*The overall mental illness goals are to prevent illness, improve health and social functioning of people with mental illness, reduce mortality from mental illness, reduce stigma, deliver effective services, and continue research into causes, care, and consequences of mental illness.

*The national targets for the mental illness key area are: to significantly improve the health and social functioning of mentally ill people; reduce the overall suicide rate by at least 15% by the year 2000 from the 1990 level of 11 per 100,000; and reduce the lifetime suicide rate of severely mentally ill people by at least 33% by the year 2000.

*The overall strategy to achieve these targets is to: improve information and understanding about mental illness; continue developing local comprehensive services; and promote good practices in mental health promotion, primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, and prevention of mortality.

*The mental illness key area encompasses the NHS as well as a whole range of organisations and settings such as local authorities, the voluntary sector, the criminal justice system, schools, workplaces, cities, and rural areas.

*The Health of the Nation: the government as a White Paper in July 1992 (Dept. published A Strategy for England. Of Health, 1992