A recent research, conducted by the King’s Fund and the Centre for Mental Health, has highlighted that in many cases mental illness is ignored because of the other health complications of the patients.

Because of the prolonged physical illness, the severity of mental illness of a patient also increases manifold. This results in high expenses. It is necessary to pay attention to the mental illness at right time so that hospitalization could be avoided.

It has further been found by the researchers that the mortality rate of a heart patient increases if the patient had been suffering from depression. According to the researchers, the risk of succumbing to death increases by 3.5 times of a heart patient with depression.

The researchers have suggested that an integrated approach of physicians and psychologists can help in treating patients effectively and thus can also prove helpful in improving the survival rate.

It has also been found that the expenditure of treatment increases when a patient is diagnosed with mental illness at an advanced stage. The lead author of the study, Chris Naylor was reported as saying, “The prevailing approach is at risk of failing…unless we look at patients' needs as a whole, including their mental health needs. To achieve this, mental health provision … needs to be an integral part of it”.

It is hoped that the findings of the research would help in improving the survival rate of terminally ill patients. Many patients are even unaware that they are affected with the mental disorder. If they are diagnosed with mental disorder timely then they won’t be required to hospitalize. The chances of a patient to look after themselves after being affected with mental disorder decreases.