Meeting the needs for psychological treatment of people with common mental disorders: An exploratory study

Abstract

This paper describes the limited availability of resources for common mental disorders and the unmet need for treatment for both anxiety and depression. A specific focus is to consider whether a self-referral approach to Stress can be adapted to meet the unmet need for treatment of people with depression. Results indicate that the take-up for a self-referral Depression workshop is much lower than that for the Stress workshops, particularly between the enquiry and the Introductory Talk stage. Additionally, those who came to the Introductory Talks for the Depression workshops were very similar to psychology service referrals. Over 90% had previously been to see their GP, been diagnosed and referred on to the specialist mental health services. It was concluded that the self-referral mechanism was not successful in meeting the unmet needs of those with depression who had not been previously referred. Suggestions are made about improving take-up and engagement for this group.