A compelling argument for improving society's mental health through
increased services and better policy
Mental illness is a leading cause of suffering in the modern world. In
sheer numbers, it afflicts at least 20 percent of people in developed
countries. It reduces life expectancy as much as smoking does, accounts
for nearly half of all disability claims, is behind half of all worker
sick days, and affects educational achievement and income. There are
effective tools for alleviating mental illness, but most sufferers
remain untreated or undertreated. What should be done to change this? In
Thrive, Richard Layard and David Clark argue for fresh policy
approaches to how we think about and deal with mental illness, and they
explore effective solutions to its miseries and injustices.
Layard and Clark show that modern psychological therapies are highly
effective and could potentially turn around the lives of millions of
people at little or no cost. This is because treating psychological
problems generates huge savings on physical health care, as well as
massive economic savings through more people working. So psychological
therapies would effectively pay for themselves, generating potential
savings for nations the world over. Layard and Clark describe how
various successful psychological treatments have been developed and
explain what works best for whom. They also discuss how mental illness
can be prevented through better schools and a better society, and the
urgency of doing so.
Illustrating why we cannot afford to ignore the issue of mental illness,
Thrive opens the door to new options and possibilities for one of the
most serious problems facing us today.
