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Asked by anon-216549 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 15 Jun 2019.
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Caroline Brett answered on 15 Jun 2019:
Amongst my students, the most common mental health difficulty (which can become an illness over time) I see is anxiety.
In general, I believe the most common mental health diagnosis is depression. This can be difficult to spot as often people who experience depression don’t even know that this is what’s going on, and often they don’t want to talk about it (certainly my students might not want to talk to me about it – I’d hope they would and I try to create a safe space so that they can, but some are still quite embarrassed about it – or aren’t sure what words to use to describe it).
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Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 15 Jun 2019:
I run a mental health blog (Psychreg), where I curate mental health stories. Most of the stories I receive are from people who suffer from depression or anxiety. I would say 9 out 10. I’m not a mental health professional, so I’d be interested to hear from clinical psychologists or counsellors.
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Nicola Johnstone answered on 16 Jun 2019:
Most of my research is focused on anxiety-related processes so I spend most of my time looking at emotions in anxious people.
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Robert Dempsey answered on 17 Jun 2019:
Generally, anxiety and depression (together and separately) are by far the most common. In terms of my research, I work a lot with people who have a bipolar disorder diagnosis and people who have lived experience of suicidal thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It is surprising how many people experience some degree of suicidal thoughts (even very brief thoughts that go away quickly), but a lot of people with a diagnosed condition feel worried about talking about these experiences with medical professionals. I think the key thing to highlight is that people living with a mental health condition may not be ‘ill’ all of the time – we know many people with a bipolar diagnosis manage their health very well and experience periods of good functioning (and many experience positives which they feel are directly associated with their bipolar experiences – e.g. inspiration and creativity).
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Jasmin Moon answered on 17 Jun 2019:
In my job I would say it’s depression and anxiety (and often people have both these conditions at the same time).
As I am helping people with their jobs, very often they are experiencing work-related stress, which although isn’t technically a mental health problem it can lead to one if not addressed. This is why I help people to manage problems in their workplace so that their stress doesn’t turn into a long term mental health problem.
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