Investing in mental health: a path to economic growth through psychological therapies

The prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression and anxiety disorders is increasing, with depression now the leading cause of disabilities globally, meaning that governments must take decisive actions to finance evidence-based support for these conditions. Psychological therapies, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), are recommended as first-line treatments for many CMDs. In Spain, the Psychology in Primary Care (PsicAP) randomised control trial was conducted to evaluate the impact of adding a transdiagnostic-CBT (TD-CBT) intervention (akin to much of the treatment within NHS TTad) to treatment-as-usual (TAU), compared with TAU alone in Spanish primary care services. We compared the proportion of individuals reporting an annual income of >¿24 000 (approximate to the average annual income in Spain) between the treatment groups at each time point (see Fig. 1). The differences between interventions expressed as odds ratios were: 1.13 (95% CI: 0.84-1.52) at pre-treatment; 1.36 (95% CI: 0.94-1.98) at post-treatment and 1.92 (95% CI: 1.21-3.05) at 12-month follow-up. These findings suggest the potential for psychological treatment delivered in primary care to increase earning ability, and hence the potential that psychological interventions can increase economic growth through increasing income.