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1 results

  • 10 - Health and Healthcare

  • from Part III - How Our Experience Affects Our Wellbeing
  • Richard Layard, London School of Economics and Political Science, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, University of Oxford
  • Book:
    Wellbeing
    Published online:
    12 May 2023
    Print publication:
    02 March 2023, pp 152-165
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  • Summary

    Mental and physical illness are intimately related. Both cause pain in the same area of the brain and reduce our ability to function normally. Some 20% of the population would be diagnosed as having a mental illness. But in most advanced countries under a third of them are in treatment (and most of those are only receiving medication, not psychological treatment).

    Though severe conditions require medication, evidence-based psychological treatment is recommended for all conditions. With recovery rates from depression or anxiety disorders of at least 50%, these treatments are highly cost-effective, because they enable many more people to work productively and they also reduce the demand for costly physical healthcare.

    Physical pain is an important determinant of life satisfaction, and good physical health prolongs life. To evaluate any healthcare-intervention, its benefits should be measured in WELLBYs. These need to be high enough relative to the cost.