There is concern people who need help with their ‘everyday stresses’ are being given drugs (Image: Pixabay image)
More than eight out of 10 GPs are concerned that people are being prescribed anti-depressants when they would be better off with help which does not involve drugs.
A landmark report lays bare fear at the heart of the health service that people are not getting the support they need.
A top concern is that everyday stresses and strains are now considered mental disorders.
The Centre for Social Justice states that 84% of GPs agreed that “society’s approach to mental health has led to the normal ups and downs of life being seen as medical problems”.
It warns that the nation is now “far too inclined to pin a mental health label on patients feeling miserable or lonely”.
Dr Sanjiv Nichani, a consultant paediatrician, said: “Mental ill-health is one of the great challenges of our time. It’s having a major impact on the health service, but also on the wider economy.
“The danger is that sometimes, rather than helping people with the everyday stresses of their lives, we find a solution in a medical intervention, which can risk making things worse with people languishing on medication for far too long.”
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The research found 83% of GPs were concerned “antidepressants are prescribed when alternatives would be more suitable”.
A child psychologist told the think tank: “Often it’s not a tablet they need, but someone to talk to, be in community with.”
The CSJ’s analysis suggests “almost a fifth of adults in England are now taking antidepressants”.
Eighty-five per cent of family doctors are concerned that anti-depressants are too readily prescribed because of a lack of treatments which do not involve drugs.
Stating that a fifth of children aged eight to 16 have a “probable mental health disorder” – up from 12.5% in 2017 – the think tank cautions that if trends continue this could be the case for one in four children by 2030.
The report, Change the Prescription, warns that “the boundaries between distress and disorder have become blurred”.
Sophia Worringer, the think tank’s deputy policy director, said that “misunderstood mental ill-health” has contributed to the “surge in school absence” and drags down the country’s productivity.
Until this is tackled, she added, “no amount of government initiatives to tackle the symptoms of a stagnating economy, flatlining productivity, or the anxious generation will fix the problem”.
The think tank argues that “plummeting family stability” is a key reason for the sharp decline in mental health among children.
In a joint foreword to the report, Labour MP Simon Opher, Tory MP Danny Kruger and former NHS chief executive Lord Nigel Crisp state: “It is time the medical profession adopted treatment options beyond the prescription pad for symptoms of mild to moderate mental ill-health We must push back at this costly and ineffective over-medicalisation, stop labelling mild transient feelings in terms of major psychiatric conditions and offer patients compassionate and practical support to feel better.”
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However, Minesh Patel of the mental health charity Mind, said that “for some of us, medication will be the most suitable treatment option”.
He said the nation must address the “lack of investment in mental health services and the increasing numbers on waiting lists,” adding: “The ups and downs of life are harder to brush off when you’re living in poverty or experiencing racism.”
The 52,000 people who were sectioned under the Mental Health Act last year, he added, were “not dealing with mild or transient feelings but are instead feeling suicidal, self-harming, or experiencing psychosis or mania”.
Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national mental health director, said: “Record numbers are struggling with their mental health due to a range of factors – whether it is the pressures we face in society either from social media, financial struggles, or issues exacerbated by the pandemic such as school absences which are still a persistent problem.
“Many people coming forward to the NHS need evidenced based timely treatment for their mental illness, with our talking therapy service allowing more than 1.2 million people to receive help including employment support without the need to see a GP first – and anyone can now call 111 if they are in a mental health crisis.
“We’ve also rolled out hundreds of mental health teams in schools, which means that half of pupils in England will have access to NHS specialists in the classroom by this spring.”
She added that the “NHS cannot do this alone and wider society must also step up to the plate” because “ most of us are going to have issues with our mental health at some point in or lives”.