1. Look who’s talking Contemporary views and experiences of emotional support Please do not cite or quote without authors’ permission

2. Main themes Beliefs about ‘Emotions talk’ in general ‘Formal’ emotional support Practices relating to Informal emotional support through relationships/social networks Formal emotional support through professionals/those trained to help or listen

3. About the survey data From the 2007 British Social Attitudes survey Annual survey (since 1983) run by National Centre for Social Research In-home interview, with modular structure 60 attitudinal and behavioural ‘items’ on emotional difficulties/support (including WEMWBS) Supporting data on demogs/wider characteristics Random sample of 2,100 aged 18+ in Scotland, England and Wales

4. As a society, we are (increasingly) at ease with ‘emotions talk’

5. General attitudes towards emotions talk Agree strongly/ agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree/ disagree strongly Don’t know I find it easy to talk about my feelings 552025* People spend too much time talking about their feelings 352540* I grew up in the sort of household where people didn’t talk about their feelings 491437* People nowadays spend more time talking about their feelings 6720122 It’s important to me to be able to talk about my feelings 681814-

6. ‘I grew up in the sort of household where people didn’t really talk about their feelings’ - % agreeing/disagreeing by age group

7. But attitudes towards emotions talk remain highly patterned

8. Belonging to ‘most positive’ group by age group and sex (%)

9. And comfort with ‘emotions talk’ in general is not the same as feeling comfortable talking to professionals

10. Attitudes towards formal emotional support Agree strongly/ agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree/ disagree strongly DK I ’ d feel comfortable talking to my GP 5814253 I ’ d feel comfortable talking to a therapist or counsellor 3823355 I ’ d know how to find a therapist or counsellor 5112335 Counselling or therapy is only for people with really serious problems 3123423 I don ’ t really know anything about counselling or therapy 3519434 If I had seen a therapist or counsellor, I wouldn ’ t want anybody else to know 4327265

11. Would feel comfortable talking to GP/therapist if feeling worried, stressed or down, by age group (%)

12. Most people still have powerful informal networks of social and emotional support

13. Talk-based emotional support Actual - 47% have actually spoken to a friend or relative once a month or more; 56% to spouse or partner Hypothetical - 67% ‘very likely’ to talk to spouse or partner; 43% ‘very likely’ to talk to friend/relative

14. Networks of potential support 70% have at least three people they can ‘turn to’ for emotional support; 40% have five or more 44% talk to friends or family in person every day or almost every day; 37% do so by phone

15. But… Women remain more connected than men Younger people have much wider networks in general Differences in contact levels by age are amplified by use of ICTs Strong income effects – connectedness increasing with affluence

16. Proportion with three or more people could turn to, by age group and gender

17. Daily face to face contact by age group and gender

18. Daily phone contact by age group and gender

19. Daily text contact by age group and gender

20. Patterns of informal support vary across the lifecourse for both men and women

21. Person most likely to turn to in face of emotional difficulty

22. Most likely to turn to same sex friend in face of emotional difficulty

23. It’s not just about talk – but non talk- based responses are highly patterned too

24. % very or fairly likely to deal with difficulties through bottling things up

25. % very or fairly likely to deal with difficulties through drinking alcohol

26. % very or fairly likely to deal with difficulties through exercise

27. % very or fairly likely to deal with difficulties through eating

28. % very or fairly likely to deal with difficulties through shopping

29. Despite ‘confessional culture’, use of formal talk-based support remains rare

30. Contact with formal emotional support – ever and last year (%) EverLast year Your GP30.919.2 A psychologist2.40.7 A psychiatrist3.51.9 A therapist or counsellor you saw in person13.14.1 A therapist or counsellor you spoke to by telephone1.90.8 Any therapist/counsellor13.64.3 Any psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist or counsellor16.15.6 Someone from a support service who is trained to help people or to listen3.11.3 Social worker or care worker2.41.6 Minister/ priest/other religious leader3.72.1 Any of the above40.224.5

31. Contact with formal emotional support, ever, by age group (%)

32. But use of prescription medication remains more common – especially for some groups

33. Use of prescription medication 15% of men and 26% of women report use ‘ever’ of medication in response to emotional difficulties Not surprisingly, those who have used meds are more likely to have been in receipt of talk-based help But 56% report never having spoken to any professional except a GP (and 34% not even a GP) Poorer people are relatively more likely to have been in receipt of meds and less likely to have been in receipt of talk-based support

34. Use of talking therapies is driven partly by need – but there are important other influences too

35. Income, need and service use

36. There is no obvious tension between the formal and the informal

37. The formal versus the informal? Those who use one are more likely to use the other 22% of those who have ever used formal support talk to family or friends at least once a week, compared with 14% of those who have never used formal support And both are predicted by a positive orientation towards emotions talk In sum: no evidence of an antagonism between the two

38. But self-help strategies remain relatively rare

39. Self-help: still thin culture? Relatively little sign of a pervasive self-help culture 14% read self-help text in last year 4% been to a self-help/support group 5% used web-based groups or resources Women slightly more likely than men to read/attend group; no diffs re web Younger people much less likely to read/attend groups; much more likely to use web

40. Final thoughts Some evidence of growing support for emotions talk in general – what opportunities does this present? But significant continuing cultural resistance to ideas of professional support in face of private difficulties and entrenched differences by age group, education and gender How to respond to the cultural distinctiveness of the ‘mustn’t grumble’ pre-war generation; and to the ageing of the ‘me generation’ Combination of lifestage and cohort effects Importance of continuing to foster informal networks, as well as improving formal provision, and of finding ways for linking the formal and the informal