Mental Health Awareness Week 2025
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we at the Mental Health Platform are highlighting severe mental illness (SMI), and why it’s important to research SMI as well as general mental health.
While it's vital to talk openly about stress, anxiety, and emotional resilience, our research is focused on conditions such as schizophrenia, severe depression, bipolar, and diagnoses associated with complex emotions, like BPD, EUPD and CPTSD. These conditions often go unseen and misunderstood.
The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week this year is “community”, so we spoke to some members of our MHP community to learn more about differences between general mental health and SMI, and why it’s important we research both.
What is the difference between general mental health and severe mental illness?
“Mental Health describes the psychological and social wellbeing of everyone. Mental Health is relevant to everyone, and we may all be at risk of worse mental health at times in our life when we are faced with life's challenges. This is typically part of every human beings normal life experience, and does not necessarily imply the presence of illness.
Severe mental illness (SMI), on the other hand, is entirely different in both the severity of symptoms, persistence and how it affects the lives of those affected. SMI may begin in adolescence or early adulthood, but continue for many years. People may experience many episodes within their lifetime. Suicide is much more common in those affected, as are physical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes."
Andrew McIntosh: clinician and researcher at University of Edinburgh, MHP Director.
“Researching both severe and general mental illness is important for several reasons. It will improve our understanding of the complex causes of severe mental illnesses and help us develop effective interventions. It will help us develop better medications, therapies and support systems tailored to these conditions.
"By studying general mental health, we can identify early signs of mental health issues allowing for early intervention and preventive strategies to take place”
Livia Carvalho: Senior Lecturer in Neuropsychopharmacology, co-Deputy Director of the Social Health Hub and Biomarker Lead.
“It is important that we research severe mental illnesses as well as general mental health because a severe mental illness is one of the greatest burdens a person, their family, their friends and society has to bear. An uncontrolled severe mental illness not only ruins the lives of those who suffer from it, but the effects ripple into society.
“If one can control and relieve this suffering, then a person is free to contribute, help, live and love. That is very positive for them and society as a whole. Supporting society's general mental health is also important as it affects a majority of the population but the two are distinctly different in intensity.”
Oliver Seligman: author, speaker and mental health advocate, has lived with Bipolar disorder for over 30 years.
“It is critical that we develop a better understanding of the mechanisms of SMI, so that we can develop more effective tests and treatments for these conditions, and improve the outcomes and life expectancies of the many millions affected globally”
Andrew McIntosh: clinician and researcher at University of Edinburgh, MHP Director.
Industry Forum: a Researcher Perspective
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