Poverty and mental health: What should we know as mental health professionals?

Social inequality as a social and economic phenomenon has become an issue of common interest in Europe and other societies worldwide, mainly after the recent global financial and economic crisis that occurred in 2008. The increasing gap observed between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged people has caused intensive debates in politics, social sciences and in the field of public health. Today, poverty is considered as a major variable adversely influencing health. In this paper we will discuss the link between poverty and mental health.

We conducted a literature search focusing on three main objectives: (I) to investigate the definition of "poverty"; (II) to determine the association between poverty and major mental health problems; and (III) to discuss the extent to which poverty could be both a cause and a consequence of mental health.

We identified a total of 142 relevant papers, published between 1995 and 2014, only 32 were retained. Main findings are summarised in this paper.

Poverty can be considered as a risk factor for mental illness. Yet the relation between poverty and mental health is complex, without direct causation, and bidirectional. As poverty has severe consequences not only on health but also on the whole society, combating poverty should be placed high on the political agenda.