Chapter 5.5: Major public health problems — mental ill-health

N An estimated 20% to 40% of the population today suffer from mental ill-health – everything from more serious disease states such as psychoses to milder mental problems such as worry, anxiety or anguish and disturbed sleep. Of these, 10–15% are reckoned to have serious complaints that may need psychiatric treatment. N Only about 3–4% of the population seek psychiatric care in any one year. Fewer than 1% (0.7%) of the adult population are reckoned to have mental disabilities that require contact with the