About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the social distribution of mental distress, focusing in particular on: (i) the importance of not separating mental distress from physical illness; (ii) the similar patterns across physical and mental illness, with individuals with lower incomes presenting higher prevalence of mental distress; (iii) the ‘drift’ explanation, which states that individuals who suffer from mental distress may ‘drift down’ the social hierarchy, explaining the relationship between these factors; (iv) a link between income and perceived life control, which could go some way to explaining the relationship between lower income and mental distress prevalence; (v) key gender differences in mental distress prevalence, including that women are more likely to experience common mental health conditions than men, and that the prevalence is increasing; (vi) some key gender differences in mental health condition and mental distress prevalence by condition/disorder; (vii) the impact that COVID-19 had on mental distress, which was far greater for women than for men; (viii) the triple role of work out of the home, work in the home and caring for children taken on by many women, which can impact mental distress; (ix) the tendency for men to view admission of mental distress as a weakness, reducing the likelihood that they will seek help from health services; (x) differences in mental distress by ethnicity, including that Black British men are significantly more likely to experience a psychotic disorder than White or Asian British men; (xi) greatly higher detainment levels of Black men under the mental health act when compared to White men; (xii) recognising the interconnected impact of interpersonal, structural and institutional racism on health outcomes by ethnicity; (xiii) James Nazroo’s work, which proposes an integrated approach to understanding racism, bringing together interpersonal, structural and institutional elements.

About the lecturer

Professor Michael Calnan is a professor of medical sociology in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. Professor Calnan’s research interests are in trust relations in mental health care and social influences on decision making made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Some of Professor Calnan’s recent publications include ‘How do you measure trust in social institutions and health professionals? A systematic review of the literature (2012-2021).’ (2023) and ‘Pharmaceutical policies for gaining access to high-priced medicines: a comparative analysis between England and Brazil.’ (2022).