Mental health research needs a boost. It is an area that receives nowhere near as much in public donations as research into cancer or heart disease does. The pharmaceutical industry shies away from it and some say it is a less attractive field for young bright scientists to move in to.
Others argue that psychological treatments are perceived as less scientific. This leaves researchers struggling to compete in neuroscience for highly sought after government funding. Yet mental health comes top of a list of public interests for research.
Two charities that provide funding for mental health research are working to tackle the problem.
Mental Health Research UK was set up in 2008 when one of the trustees, Clair Chilvers, then a civil servant, discovered there were no charities dedicated purely to mental health research. They provide scholarships and funding for PhD students. Meanwhile, MQ: Transforming Mental Health was set up in 2013 with ÂŁ20m from the Wellcome Trust to provide funding for postdoctoral fellows across the academic spectrum. They made their first awards in late 2013.
Chilvers says that although 23% of ill health is attributable to mental illness, 5.5% of research funding is on mental health. For every ÂŁ1 the UK government spends on research, the public gives a third of a penny to mental health research compared with ÂŁ2.75 in cancer and ÂŁ1.35 in cardiovascular disease. This is despite the fact that the economic and social cost of mental health in England is ÂŁ105bn.
“We look to the government, the research councils and to some extent the Wellcome Trust – but that’s it really, that’s all we’ve got” says Antony David, professor of cognitive neuroscience at King’s College London.