"Depression"Biggest Social Issue in UK

It has been observed since last few years that depression, anxiety and other forms of mental illness have taken over from unemployment as the greatest social problem in the UK, a health economist warns today.

As per a research around 15% of the population suffers from depression or anxiety. You’ll be surprised to know that economic cost in terms of lost productivity is huge - around £17bn, or 1.5% of UK gross domestic product. Well "There are now more than 1 million mentally ill people receiving incapacity benefits - more than the total number of unemployed people receiving unemployment benefits," he writes in the British Medical Journal.

Many people take drugs for mental relaxation. According to The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) drugs are not the best answer. Drugs may work in adults in the short term, but patients more easily relapse when they stop taking them, and may suffer side-effects. A company, The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), which licenses drugs, has told doctors not to prescribe most of the modern antidepressants known as the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), like Seroxat, to under-18s because risks outweigh benefits.

As per an analysis only 4% of all those with depression and anxiety disorders received psychological therapy in the past year, Lord Layard says. However the "talking" therapies are popular with patients who often do not want drugs.

The cost of therapy is about £750 for each patient. And in the next two years it is likely he or she will have about 12 extra months free of illness compared with no treatment, and at least one extra month in work worth more than £1,880, which more than pays the £750 cost of treatment. Infact there are other financial benefits too, which include fewer needing to be hospitalised.