Costs of mental illness in Britain

Cost of illness studies are a growing area of literature without a common methodology and their usefulness has been debated over the years. A short review carried out of the British studies on mental health revealed differences which originate from three main areas: the epidemiological evidence on prevalence, service contact data and the unit costs employed. This paper outlines the differences found in a number of these studies and we develop a worked example using information from the studies to illustrate the issues of concern. We conclude that the area is problematic in two fashions. Firstly, the results are highly sensitive to epidemiological data and assumptions on costs. Secondly, the assumptions on costs and use of services must always be made explicit.