psychological problems - stats

people being treated for substance misuse

• public health english: in 2014-2015, 141,646 adults were being treated for problems with substance misuse including drugs and alcohol

• not the most reliable since there are people who have addictions but do not realise that they do and as a result may not seek help

  • this applies for basically all the stats for addiction

people suffering from some form of addiction

• nhs have estimated that around 2 million people in the uk suffer from some form of addiction, proving that it’s not a rare problem

people addicted to the internet

• cheng and yee-am li

  • found that around 6% of the world’s population had problematic internet use

  • the highest rate of internet addiction was seen in the middle east (10.9% of the population)

  • the lowest rate was seen in northern and western parts of europe (2.6% of the population)

people using the internet for more than 15 hours a day

• a 2014 survey in the uk found that 16% of 1300 eighteen to twenty four year old participants admitted to using the internet for more than 15 hours everyday

• unreliable since people can lie about the amount of time they spend on the internet

the number of people who reported using illegal drugs

• a research was conducted in 2014 to see the amount of people who were reported to use illegal drugs

  • in 2008, 27% of people who completed the survey said that they had used illegal substances

  • in 2014, 31% of people said they had used illegal drugs

  • most of the people who answered the survey said that they no longer use drugs and did not feel that they ever had a problem with them

cost of healthcare services provided to people with addictions

• nhs claims that every year, substance misuse costs them £400 million

  • this includes the cost of rehabilitation programmes and treatment for associated health problems (e.g lung damage from smoking)

cost of investigating drug-related crimes in the uk

• nhs claim that drug-related crimes cost the uk £13.9 billion a year

  • this includes policing costs, trying a case in court, punishment and treatment programmes and cost of supporting the victims of the crimes

how many people suffer from a serious depressive episode a year

(researched by WHO)

roughly 1 in 15 people

females v. males for depression

• affects twice as many females as males

• effects women longer than men