What's the real need at the moment for people with severe mental illnesses?

Is it really psychological therapies? That's the band wagon that everyone's on. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy shows the best performance in political outcomes which is great for therapy as a means of behavioural modification. It's also good for improving mood which is great for mental health as a thing about distress rather than disorder. Many patients prefer non-pharmacological options so more therapy is great for patient choice.

Of course people with severe mental illnesses will still die quicker. Long term psychological therapies don't have much funding. Doctors still believe in medication - the older generation at least - so will try to prescribe drugs rather than talking or social interventions; and they're right too based on the psychopathological view of schizophrenia rather than the compassionate one. They'll also give people with mental illnesses fewer operations and lower quality physical care. The quality of life of people with severe mental illness is still poor and the medication makes it worse for many. It contributes to their reduced life expectancy but, well, that's something the Scientologists were right about so it's best not mentioned.

The UK not only has one of the highest standardised mortaliity ratios for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, it is also has one of the lowest employment rates in Europe for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. People with a diagnosis of depression get stigmatised but anyone admitting to schizophrenia....well...they're fucked basically.

But psychological therapies are the new bandwagon just as medication was half a century ago. The evidence that the UK still has very poor outcomes for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (I'm unaware of the evidence for other diagnoses) compared to other equivalent nations is about as interesting to most people as the possible immorality of mental health when it's used as a behavioural modification and social prejudice enforcement system dressed as healthcare. After all, it's just another fucking dead schizophrenic.