Old Study Could Aid Mental Health

A charity believes a 60-year-old study of mental health in Scotland could hold the key to developing new treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s.

Help the Aged in Scotland is hoping to raise £13.5m by 2015 to pay for long-term research resulting from the Scottish Mental Survey from 1947.

It is asking businesses, the public and organisations to help raise the funds. Edinburgh University will test 1,000 of the 70,000 people who took part in the original research.

The Scottish Mental Health Survey from 1947 was uncovered in archives 10 years ago.

The scientists behind the find realised that by tracing some of the original participants they could get a unique snapshot of mental health in Scotland over the past 60 years.

Help the Aged Scotland has now launched a project called The Disconnected Mind to examine the detailed mental development of 1,000 people over the 60-year period.

The project will be led by Dr Ian Deary, professor of differential psychology at Edinburgh University.

He said: “Understanding the ageing mind is one of the greatest challenges facing 21st Century science.

“The Disconnected Mind is at the forefront of this effort and its findings may have enormous implications, helping forge a future that is healthier and less clouded by fear of mental decline.”

About 800,000 people in the UK are currently diagnosed with severe mental decline.

The charity said four out of five people who experience mild mental impairment go on to develop dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease within six years.

Liz Duncan, director of Help the Aged in Scotland, said there was now an unprecedented opportunity to tackle this.

“A shocking 63,000 people in Scotland have severe mental decline and this is expected to double by the year 2030,” she said.

“It must be remembered that forms of cognitive decline such as dementia are illnesses and not a natural part of ageing.

“As a result, The Disconnected Mind could be the public’s greatest opportunity to say ‘no’ to the inevitability of confusion and memory loss that ruins the lives of millions of older people.”