Outcomes for treatment for anxiety and depression
Published
Last updated 8 August 2023 - see all updates
1. Main facts and figures
- in every ethnic group, over 60% of patients showed an improvement after treatment for anxiety or depression in 2018 to 2019
- the highest percentage of patients showing an improvement was in the White British ethnic group at 68.1%
- the lowest percentage of patients showing an improvement was in the Bangladeshi ethnic group at 60.8%
- between 2015 to 2016 and 2018 to 2019, the percentage of patients showing an improvement increased in every ethnic group
- the biggest increase in patients showing an improvement was in the Pakistani ethnic group
- in most ethnic groups, women were more likely to have shown an improvement than men
- among women, patients from the White British (68.5%) ethnic group were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to have improved after therapy
- women from the Bangladeshi (8.0%) and Asian Other (7.8%) ethnic groups were the most likely to have deteriorated
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of patients who improved, deteriorated or showed no change after being treated for anxiety or depression.
The data covers NHS referrals that ended in each financial year covered (for example, April 2018 to March 2019).
Patients complete health and anxiety questionnaires at the start and end of their treatment. Their responses are used to assess the outcome of their treatment.
A patient has shown 'reliable improvement' if there is both:
- a reliable decrease in one or both of the scores
- no reliable increase in either of them
The data mainly covers adult referrals, but a small number of under-18s are also referred.
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place, but are worked out using unrounded figures.
Not included in the data
Data based on fewer than 5 patients is not included. This is to protect people’s confidentiality.
The percentage of referrals with an unknown outcome is not shown, so not all percentages for the 3 outcomes add up to 100%.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the 16 ethnic groups used in the 2001 Census.
The data only includes patients whose ethnicity was known. This was 88% of patients in the year to March 2019.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- data for clinical commissioning groups – some data is not included if it’s based on a small number of patients
- data showing percentages over time for different ethnic groups by gender
3. By ethnicity over time
| Reliably improved (%) | No Reliable Change (%) | Reliably deteriorated (%) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Reliably improved (%) 2015/16 | Reliably improved (%) 2016/17 | Reliably improved (%) 2017/18 | Reliably improved (%) 2018/19 | No Reliable Change (%) 2015/16 | No Reliable Change (%) 2016/17 | No Reliable Change (%) 2017/18 | No Reliable Change (%) 2018/19 | Reliably deteriorated (%) 2015/16 | Reliably deteriorated (%) 2016/17 | Reliably deteriorated (%) 2017/18 | Reliably deteriorated (%) 2018/19 |
| Asian | 56.7 | 61.1 | 62.7 | 63.9 | 31.7 | 29.6 | 28.4 | 27.5 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Bangladeshi | 53.9 | 58.9 | 61.7 | 60.8 | 32.0 | 29.7 | 28.1 | 28.2 | 10.7 | 10.1 | 8.6 | 8.8 |
| Indian | 59.2 | 64.0 | 65.3 | 66.4 | 30.7 | 28.1 | 27.1 | 26.0 | 7.4 | 6.7 | 6.4 | 6.8 |
| Pakistani | 54.9 | 59.1 | 61.3 | 63.0 | 32.5 | 30.8 | 29.1 | 28.3 | 9.1 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 7.7 |
| Asian other | 55.2 | 59.1 | 60.4 | 62.0 | 32.3 | 30.8 | 30.0 | 28.7 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Black | 59.8 | 62.5 | 63.9 | 66.2 | 29.4 | 28.7 | 27.3 | 25.6 | 8.2 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.0 |
| Black African | 58.8 | 61.7 | 63.1 | 66.2 | 29.6 | 28.9 | 27.9 | 25.3 | 8.5 | 7.8 | 7.5 | 7.1 |
| Black Caribbean | 60.8 | 63.3 | 64.5 | 66.4 | 29.1 | 28.5 | 26.9 | 25.7 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.0 |
| Black other | 58.6 | 61.8 | 64.2 | 65.7 | 30.0 | 29.2 | 27.1 | 26.0 | 8.7 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 6.9 |
| Mixed | 58.6 | 62.4 | 63.2 | 64.7 | 30.9 | 29.1 | 28.3 | 27.6 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 6.7 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 58.2 | 63.5 | 62.7 | 63.4 | 31.5 | 28.8 | 28.8 | 29.2 | 7.4 | 6.0 | 7.2 | 6.3 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 60.8 | 61.0 | 64.1 | 65.6 | 28.4 | 30.5 | 26.8 | 27.2 | 7.8 | 6.5 | 7.9 | 6.7 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 58.8 | 61.5 | 63.7 | 64.7 | 31.2 | 30.2 | 27.9 | 27.4 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 7.0 |
| Mixed other | 58.0 | 62.9 | 62.8 | 65.1 | 30.9 | 27.9 | 28.7 | 27.1 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.7 |
| White | 63.5 | 66.0 | 67.2 | 68.0 | 28.3 | 26.9 | 26.2 | 25.4 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.5 |
| White British | 63.6 | 66.1 | 67.3 | 68.1 | 28.2 | 26.9 | 26.2 | 25.4 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.5 |
| White Irish | 63.8 | 65.2 | 65.8 | 65.5 | 27.6 | 26.9 | 26.7 | 27.2 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 6.4 |
| White other | 61.9 | 63.7 | 65.6 | 66.9 | 28.8 | 28.2 | 27.0 | 26.0 | 6.8 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.0 |
| Other including Chinese | 56.4 | 59.0 | 61.7 | 64.0 | 30.8 | 30.5 | 28.8 | 27.5 | 8.1 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 7.4 |
| Chinese | 60.6 | 64.5 | 65.4 | 66.5 | 29.4 | 26.9 | 27.7 | 26.5 | 6.6 | 7.4 | 5.9 | 6.0 |
| Any other | 55.7 | 57.9 | 61.0 | 63.4 | 31.1 | 31.2 | 29.0 | 27.7 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 8.4 | 7.6 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
4. Data sources
Source
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
NHS Digital
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The data is used to monitor and improve the provision of talking therapies services for the treatment of people with anxiety, depression or both.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: Measure, Time, Time_type, Geography, Geography_type, Ethnicity_type, Ethnicity, Outcome, Outcome_type, Gender, Gender_type, Value, Value_type, Denominator, Numerator