It's not the doctor's fault that recession breeds depression

The powers that be, or in this case the powers that want to be; the Lib Dems, have reported that we docs are prescribing too many antidepressants. Their new report claims an increase of 2.1 million scripts for the drugs in 2008. Apparently we need to tackle this issue and reduce our prescribing. But are they really all completely unnecessary prescriptions, or are there simply more depressed people around? Or is there an absence of other treatment options easily available for doctors to access?

It’s considered very bad management to have a patient commit suicide on you, especially if he has been in the week before to make clear his unhappy mind, and so doctors naturally feel some sort of positive intervention must be made quickly.

A 10 minute appointment is really only long enough to write out a prescription.I have found myself asking why we are even setting targets to reduce the growth in prescribing of anti-depressants. Why are they seen as a bad thing? They are an evidence-based treatment that is appropriate to the particular malady and they allow patients who previously would have been disabled by their mental health condition to return to a normal life and give them the confidence to tackle their once insurmountable problems.

We should really be asking why there are so many depressed people around.The truth is that the recession (and I know this has now become the excuse for everything) is doubtlessly affecting the mental health of the nation. GPs are offering drug treatments because most do not have many other options. Access to therapists, psychiatrists and counsellors is limited and waiting lists are long. Mrs Creak with her achy hip can safely wait a few months to see an orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Gloom with his black mood and suicidal ideation cannot. Antidepressants may not remove the cause of the problem it is true. Popping pills wont resolve a failing business or an impending redundancy, but they at least help the patient to better ride out the storm.

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats' health spokesman says "The increase in the number of people being prescribed antidepressants is deeply disturbing.” Yes Mr Lamb, it is. It implies the nation is not coping, not that GPs are overzealously handing out happy pills. We do need more alternative therapies to help counter the increasing reliance on antidepressants, but they are just not available. The government has already committed millions to plug gaps in mental health provision and has promised to train thousands more therapists and hundreds more specialist nurses. But that is for the future.

They are not here now. I think an effective solution would be to recommend good financial and debt management advisors to those caving in under the economic uncertainties. They would be able to come up with far more useful advice, and they will have longer than 10 minutes to do it in.