The Reality of Income and Mental Health in Glasgow
- Flora Irvine-Hall
- May 14
- 8 min read
By Flora Irvine-Hall
This article is part of a series which explores how working class culture in Glasgow is changing. All related articles are available to read on this website. This project was produced by Flora Irvine-Hall, Sasha Main, Ryan Mullen, and Lola Lea.
Disclaimer As a journalism blog, we are aware that poverty and the working class are not the same thing and are no way are we trying to say they are. However, there is a relation to poverty and being working-class. Working-class individuals, especially if they have so-called unskilled jobs, do face a higher risk of poverty. This is why this article talks about both poverty and the working-class.
Having access to good mental health facilities is another privilege that the working class do not always have.
A 2014 research paper from Science Direct reported that all genders of all ages in deprived areas of Glasgow had a higher risk of suicide.
The paper discussed the studies of Wilkinson (2005) and Wilkinson and Picket (2009) which stated that high levels of inequality led to poor health and social outcomes.
Glasgow certainly faces a lot of stigma. A lot of this stigma may come from the mental health epidemic that the city faces. It was reported by Understanding Glasgow that the total suicide rate of Glasgow was higher than the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh until the period of 2012-2016.
However, in 2022, Glasgow was unfortunately back in the lead, with Glasgow Live reporting that Glasgow had the highest rates of suicide in Scotland over the last five years (2017-2022).
Mental health services are often limited and expensive. According to First Psychology Glasgow, one private therapy session could cost over £130. This not feasible for those on a lower salary which leaves the NHS.
But how satisfied are working-class Glaswegians with the NHS mental facilities? According to a survey that was independently conducted on Google Forms, not very. Below are some of the findings:
As seen in chart one, most participants did not feel as though their mental health was taken seriously. The participants were asked to elaborate.
One participant said: “It was palmed off as general stress, weather related and because I am a fat woman, down to the food I’m consuming. I’ve even once had a doctor tell me ‘you’re not depressed, you just watch too much TV’.”
“They said I’m too high functioning to be considered for an autism diagnosis,” another participant stated.
Another participant shared their frustration over the lack of urgency for long term mental health problems.
“Reoccurring conditions don’t receive the same response as the first time you speak with a health professional,” they said. “Isolated incidents or concerns tend to be treated more seriously than long-term problems.”
The saying goes that money cannot buy happiness, but the findings in chart two beg to differ.
The survey found that most participants who had used NHS mental health services before did not find them helpful. This can be seen from chart three below:
The participants explained why they felt this way.
“They would rather palm you off with anti-depressants rather than speaking about the issue and referring you to non-pill related tools,” said one participant.
“I got given links to websites and never really any proper help, I just had phone calls and was put on anti-depressants,” said another.
On a more positive note, chart four shows that most participants had access to some form of mental health services through their work.
However, most participants also said that they would suffer financially if they were to take time off for their mental health which can be seen below in chart five:
As seen from chart six below, a majority of those who took part in the survey agreed that working-class individuals were judged more harshly for having mental health issues.
The participants shared their insights on why the working-class are often demonised for having mental health issues.
One participant said: “I believe blue collar working men in particular, have a particular tough guy stigma to them that can cause them to be judged for being mentally unwell.”
“The working class can’t afford to be mentally unwell. An absence from work has a huge impact and financial instability can happen very easily if you are working class,” said another participant. “When this instability occurs, a person will be judged by society for the coping mechanisms: food bank use, debt, substance use, theft, poverty, DWP claims, reframing you from things you can’t afford and withdrawal from society. This cycle perpetuates a working-class person’s drift from a society which they are judged for not being a conventional part of.”
But is Glasgow really all that bad? A 2012 study from Science Direct would argue that it is not.
The objective of this study was to see how accurate the “Glasgow effect” was when it came to adolescents. According to Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the definition of the Glasgow Effect refers to the observation that Glasgow, and to a lesser extent Scotland, experiences higher mortality rates and poorer health outcomes compared to similar post-industrial cities and other parts of the UK.
In the study, there were several factors that were measured. These were: happiness, confidence, feeling left out and life satisfaction. In spite of the findings above, the number of pupils who reported being very happy, always confident and never left out was actually higher in Glasgow compared with pupils in other areas of Scotland.
While the mental health services offered by the NHS do need some work, there are charities based in Glasgow for which you can self-refer. An example of this, is Time and Space.
Time and Space is a service that offers help and support for anyone who hears voices and/or self-harms.
Lindsey Miller, the coordinator and founder of Time and Space, shared the services history.
“We were founded in 2011 and it was me and my mum that stated it,” she said. “She’s (Lindsey's mum) a councillor and she was training up at The Hearing Voices Network in Dundee. Up there they have group sessions and support and there was nothing similar here. There had been groups before but they were shut down. So we decided to start a group.”
Lindsey shared where the inspiration for starting Time and Space came from.
“The interest came from personal experience because we had a family member, my uncle who had a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder and we saw him going into the hospital but there being nothing else. There was medication and that was kind of it. We thought ‘there has to be more’.”
Back in March, Time and Space had an exhibition at The Gallery of Modern Art. The idea for the exhibition came from a member who used the service. Below is one of the many stunning pieces that they had on display:
Lindsey explained why charities like Time and Space are important.
“When it comes to hearing voices, when it comes to diagnoses of bipolar and schizophrenia, it’s never going to go away. Yes medication can make you feel a bit better, but it will not take way this psychotic experience that people have. Mental health charities allow there to be a different type of support.”
As stated above, you can self-refer to Time and Space rather than having to be referred through the NHS. Lindsey shared the reasoning behind this.
“If people self-refer it’s because they want to come. A lot of the time people’s authority is taken away. They don’t get the choice, they get told ‘go here, try this’ and they think they have to because a doctor told them to and they go to places they don’t want to be,” she said. “Self-referral allows people to get in contact with us themselves and that way they can see if our service is something that they want. And sometimes it isn’t. And that’s fair enough. People should get the help they need.”
Time and Space has been very beneficial to working-class individuals. Lindsey shared some of the insights on how the charity has helped them.
“All of them (those who use the service) are working class,” she said.
Linsdey explained why this was.
She said: “Living in poverty makes you more susceptible to mental health problems. Because living in poverty pushes you to that place where you’re living pay check to pay check and people are unsafe. And having mental health problems means people are less likely to be able to work, so they’re pushed into poverty. So even if they’re not born working-class, they become working-class at some point.”
Waiting times for mental health services, especially if they are free, can often be long and agonising. This is not the case with Time and Space.
“If somebody phones us they will get into the next group,” said Lindsey. “Our groups just now are a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So if someone phones us on Monday for the hearing voices group, they’ll be there on the Wednesday.”
Lindsey shared that the local government does not do anything to help with the charity but explained the benefits of this.
“When charities have government or council funding, it can come with lots of conditions,” she said. “A lot of those conditions might shut down all the other kinds of work that we do or the way that we do it. We might have to be more risk averse than we are. We know the people we work with very well and we know when things need to be referred on and when we need to get in contact with people’s doctors.” Lindsey added that they would still get consent to contact to anyone’s doctor.
A lot of services offered by the NHS are only short-term. This is another amazing element of Time and Space as they like to work with people long-term and are less focused on statistics.
Lindsey agreed that working-class individuals are more demonised for having mental health issues than middle to upper-class individuals are.
She said: The working-class are definitely demonized for having mental health problems and they’re also often treated like it’s their own fault.”
Although NHS waiting times can often be painfully long, Psychiatric nurse Donna Graham, who works at Maryhill Centre, stated that this not always the case. She said: “Generally, if you need support for your mental health you can contact your GP and they’ll usually be able to give you an appointment within the same week. People can also access out of hours if they’re in a crisis. But if someone comes in for their mental health it’s fairly quick (seeing a GP)"
Donna agreed that working-class men in particular, face a lot of stigma for having mental health issues.
“They tend to come in crisis,” said Donna.
Finances can play a big part in someone’s mental health. Donna weighed in on this, stating: “A loss of a job or not being able to pay the mortgage, what tends to happen then is you’re worrying about that and that effects your mental and physical well-being.”
Donna shared that patients worried about money can be referred to a community links worker.
“Our community links worker can be seen fairly quickly,” said Donna. “He’ll (the community links worker) will meet with them and he’ll look at how he can help with things like money advice.”
A small step to improving your mental health is going for walks. According to the NHS, walking offers significant mental health benefits, including reducing stress, improving mood and enhancing cognitive function. Below is a video of places in Glasgow to help keep you present and grounded:
Although Glasgow has some great spots to help clear your head, and wonderful organisations like Time and Space, the mental health crisis needs to be taken far more seriously. A participant from the survey said it best:
“The government can give the working class their place in society back and respect them with proper living wages, well-funded infrastructure, healthcare, and opportunities. The NHS is very cash-strapped because of the government's poor economic choices, but what they can do is lean into existing mental health charities and voluntary groups and see how this benefits working-class people. Treating mental health care the same as physical is a proactive approach that helps the future of the NHS.”
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