ABSTRACT
Before exploring the ‘minor mental disorders’, it would be helpful to take a final contextual view of just how big a problem the mental disorders are in the general population. Fortunately, we have some very sound estimates, which provide a clear indication of how extensive they are. This can be shown by exploring some brief patient statistics on England and Wales shown in Table 5.1. This was based upon a 10 per cent household census survey and reflects the respondents’ ‘experience’ of mental disorders (Jenkins et al. 1998), as people responded to the symptoms listed in the survey. This is especially useful because, as it was anonymous, people, especially men, avoided the stigma of having to admit to these experiences.
