A new BMJ Open study estimates that PTSD costs the UK over £40 billion a year, excluding many hidden expenses like family support, stigma, and lost productivity. This underscores the urgent need for better data and treatment strategies, demanding immediate attention and action
A landmark UK analysis has revealed that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be costing the nation over £40 billion annually—far more than previously recognised. This study, published in BMJ Open, highlights the massive scale of the problem, with indirect costs such as lost productivity, social care, and family support services being largely overlooked in current estimates. With PTSD prevalence rising and many cases still misdiagnosed or untreated, the findings call for urgent investment in data, treatment pathways, and mental health infrastructure.
PTSD is misunderstood and stigmatised
PTSD usually develops after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event or being subjected to a systematic pattern of trauma or abuse. For example, those experiencing physical violence, life-threatening injury, sexual abuse, and military combat may be at risk.
With an anticipated rise in cases of 77,000 a year, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PTSD continues to be misunderstood and often misdiagnosed. The researchers note in their study that understanding the economic toll is crucial to inform policymakers about the importance of PTSD care. They stress the need for better data, calculating an overall lifetime prevalence of around 4% for 2020-21—equivalent to 6,665,000 people who are expected to develop PTSD at some point in their life—from available military and civilian data. They also searched databases for all types of quantitative studies evaluating the economic and societal costs associated with PTSD, published in English between 1990 and 2023.
The researchers analysed five studies involving millions of people and extracted and pooled direct cost components, including hospital stays, drug treatment, family doctor (GP) and specialist (psychiatrist) time, therapy for alcohol and/or substance misuse, and the costs of counsellors and psychologists.
Similarly, they extracted and pooled indirect cost components, including homelessness, disability living allowance, unemployment allowance, lost productivity at work (absenteeism and presenteeism), domiciliary care, social worker costs (for mental health), and premature death.
Hidden toll of trauma driving £40bn a year in healthcare and societal costs
At 2020-1 prices, they estimated the annual average direct excess costs for a patient with PTSD in the UK to be around £1,118, and the average yearly indirect costs to be around £13,663, adding up to a total of £14,781, but ranging from around £11,373 to £16,797. Based on this calculation, the researchers estimate that this amounts to more than £40 billion per year.
The researchers note that PTSD often presents itself with other mental health conditions, and it is challenging to link costs to PTSD alone directly. The severity of the condition (and therefore associated treatment costs) also varies.
“Certain costs are hard to measure, such as stigma and discrimination, for which we have provided only a qualitative analysis. These in turn may lead to indirect costs, such as reduced income and higher dependence on social security assistance,” the researchers wrote in their study.
“Recognising the hidden costs of PTSD (eg, in criminal justice, family support services and education) for which we were unable to provide estimates, suggests the actual economic burden is higher than estimated here,” they added. “We are gravely underquantifying the cost of this increasingly prevalent condition.”
The team suggested: “The UK would do well to consider the need for the collection of high-quality cost data to more accurately assess the different costs associated with this condition. These include the involvement of individuals affected by PTSD in criminal activities, the stigma and discrimination they face, leading to social exclusion, the impact on personal relationships, and the effect on education, potentially limiting future opportunities.”
“The need for increased awareness of PTSD, the development of more effective therapies, and the expansion of evidence-based interventions to alleviate the substantial disease and economic burden of PTSD in the UK,” the researchers concluded.
