Depression and how some are forced to live today.

[Mermaid]

The number of people living with depression in England has increased by nearly half a million in three years, according to an analysis of NHS data. This from a BBC report this week. I find it odd that since the Government changed, depression in this country has increased so much. Could this be because people are being constantly harrassed to work harder, do better and then get penilised if they can not? Many are now juggling more than one job, long hours little sleep and also little to look forward to. After these latest figures is it not time that the mental health charities stood up and took a stand at the way people are now being FORCED to live?

[MentalHealth_UK]

The figures today are looking just as bleak in Scotland, but there is one thing I do know. All mental health charities are trying their hardest. I work for one in Scotland and experience episodes of depression etc. We had our funding cut last year, our monitoring reports and applications for grant, trust and NHS funding is getting harder to secure each year. We are only a small team of 7 trying to cover the whole of Scotland, we used to be a team of 11. It wasn't that long ago that the Chief Executive of MIND quit the government welfare panel because ministers refused to listen to his criticism of the current fitness-to-work test. BBC News. Some new projects are materialising, but often at the cost of those that go. With so many cuts it's going to be a very very hard time for quite a while yet. Please don't feel that the charities aren't there for you though, all their updates can be either seen on their websites or via their FB feeds.

Catherine

[Dr Trevor Friedman]

This is a complicated issue. The problem with figures saying how many people are being treated for depression is that the figures might be a good sign that we are recognising more people have depression and treating them rather than the being an increase in the number ofpeople with depression. There may also be an argument that the figures are increased because we are overdiagnosing and treating people who are distressed and troubled but are not helped by medication. It is also a general problem with the use of the term 'depression' which has a range of meanings from understandable distress to people with very serious mental illness. It is dificult to be certain which groups of people these numbers trefer to.