Question: have you seen a trend in the UK where certain areas that tend to have better mental health, or is it fairly equal?

Debbie Stevens-Gill answered on 28 Jun 2022:

Hi Poppy,

Thank you for your question, it’s a tough one to answer without a certain amount of speculation as the statistics are slightly flawed making a comparison… well… speculation!

There is a lot of fluctuation on the whole so my answer would be that of a typical psychologist – that depends on several things! The general trend is that mental health took a hit in all regions across the UK during the pandemic. While most people expect that mental health would be poorer in urban areas this might not always be the case and it depends on how ‘mental health’ is measured as well! The most recent data shows that the West Midlands declined the most last year (so, during lockdowns). Still, there are also higher scores in these urban areas to compensate somewhat like Life Satisfaction. A fascinating source of information on this can be found on the ONS (Office for National Statistics) website complete with an interactive map! (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/measuringnationalwellbeing/april2020tomarch2021) Though they do say to take the data with a pinch of salt as the data they have makes comparing statistics across regions very difficult (they advise against it!).

I hope this helps!
Debbie