Three effects on the individual
3.1.3 asks how the two problems affect the person — three areas, each needs a named consequence, not a feeling.
Relationships — withdrawal (depression) or conflict and secrecy (addiction), so a relationship breaks and a relative turns carer.
Coping — cooking, bills and timekeeping become hard, so work is missed.
Physical — disturbed sleep, appetite/weight change, low energy; addiction adds harm.
"It makes them sad" is mood, not an effect.
Three effects on society
Effects on the community — three areas, each with a mechanism.
Social care — more people need services, so demand and waiting times rise; much care is unpaid family care.
Crime — most clearly linked to addiction (offending to fund it): an association, not a stereotype — most never offend.
Economy — lost working days, job losses and treatment costs, so output and tax fall.
When someone stops working, a personal effect becomes economic.
Name which problem you mean
The block names two problems, so an answer that never says which is doing half the job.
Emphasis differs: depression relationships = withdrawal, addiction = conflict and secrecy; depression coping = low energy, addiction = time and money consumed. Direct physical harm and crime are addiction-weighted — crime is weak for depression.
Two safeguards: name the problem, and don't force every effect onto both — a well-chosen effect beats six thin ones.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Effects are not symptoms
The trap next door: 3.1.1 = symptoms (what the problem IS, the diagnosis); 3.1.3 = effects (what it DOES to a life or community). Asked for an effect, "feels sad most of the day" is a symptom; "cannot keep up with cooking" is an effect. If a point could sit on a diagnostic checklist it is a symptom — the wrong statement. Write consequence-led: "so they…".
The reverse form is reported at June 2023 P1 Q10: on features of addiction the scheme wanted impaired control and similar, "withdrawal symptoms" was non-creditworthy, and most scored one of two.
Two effects means two unique points
List questions ("two ways addiction affects society") invite the reworded repeat. One point twice: "it costs the country money" and "it is expensive for the economy". Two unique: "working days are lost, so output falls" and "more need services, so demand rises". Test: if the second were deleted, would the first contain it? If yes, cross to a different area.
A 2-mark describe reworded as one point is reported at June 2023 P2 Q22 ("two unique points").
Explain the effect, don't just name it
Naming an effect is not explaining it. Identification: "one effect is the cost to the economy." Explained: "…because people who cannot manage daily tasks take absence or leave work, cutting output and tax." Use point → because → so what; likewise explain a strength is not describe it, and an improvement is not another weakness.
Identification without justification is recorded at June 2024 P1 Q11b and Q15b, and the June 2023 and June 2024 P2 Summaries warn candidates must not only describe.
Describe the difference needs a connective
Asked for the difference — say between a symptom and an effect — two definitions side by side leave it implied, which examiners treat as one mark. A connective names the axis: "a symptom is a feature used to recognise the problem, whereas an effect is a consequence in a life." "Whereas", "while" or "in contrast" earns the second mark.
"Describe the difference" answered as two separate definitions is recorded at June 2019 P1 Q6 and June 2022 P1 Q7; connectives such as "whereas" earn the second mark.
Crime: an association, not a stereotype
The spec names increased crime rates as a social effect, but argue it carefully. The link is to addiction (offending to fund it), and it is an association, not proof of cause. Two limits: most people with mental health problems never offend, and are more often victims than offenders. Effects on society are collective, not claims about an individual.
Trace the link between the two sides
Top-band answers trace how a personal effect becomes a social one, not list the two apart. The hinge is work: someone who cannot manage daily tasks takes absence and may leave their job, so the coping effect becomes economic through lost output and tax. If a relative cuts hours to care, a second worker is lost too. Follow the cost outwards.
Myth: it only affects the person
Two errors, both ignoring how effects travel. "It only affects the person": effects go outwards (family become unpaid carers) and inwards (public response changes severity), so answering one half caps the marks. The overcorrection reads "increased crime" as "they are dangerous" — an association with addiction, not a rule about anyone.
Use the scenario detail, not the name
Effects questions sit on scenarios, and AO3 cannot score without AO2 — evaluation on a generic answer earns nothing. Not application: the name, the stem, a copied line. Application: take a detail ("post unopened three weeks"), name the effect, say what follows.
9-mark Assess: balance and conclude
The 9-mark Assess is AO1 3 / AO2 3 / AO3 3; the 7-9 band needs AO3 and balance. Name effects (AO1), tie details to them (AO2), judge how far they follow — validity, generalisability, subjectivity — then conclude which side weighs more. Prose, not bullets.
Write AO2 before AO3
Candidates who lead with the evaluation leave the application too thin and forfeit both — and AO3 cannot score without AO2. Do AO2 first: quote a scenario detail and name the effect it shows, then evaluate. Order is free, but AO2-first is safer.
Result is not a conclusion
When effects come as figures — a cost, a survey — a result restates the numbers; a conclusion says what they mean. "The cost rose" is a result; "more burden is now economic, though figures count only what is recorded" is a conclusion. Give both halves.
Statement 3.1.3 sits under the block on unipolar depression and addiction. It asks what those problems do — to the person who has them, and to the community around them.
Effect on the individual — a consequence the problem has for the person's own life: their relationships, their ability to manage daily living, and their physical health.
Effect on society — a consequence carried by the community as a whole: demand for social care, crime rates, and the economy.
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