Are mental health issues really on the increase in Britain?

 

I certainly don't agree with cutting people's state benefits or disability benefits. But is it true that "our mental health is getting worse"?

Some time ago, I watched a rather biased channel 4 TV documentary called 'Britain's Benefits Scandal' introduced by Fraser Nelson. Nelson interviewed a number of people who were on state benefits or were trying to get on state benefits. Many said they were better off on state benefits rather than working. What the program didn't disclose is that around 39% of people claiming Universal Credit (UC) are already in work. They claim UC to top up their low wages or they have caring responsibilities. The documentary also failed to mention that many people fail to claim state benefits that they’re entitled to which saves the British government, millions of pounds each year.

Fraser Nelson also interviewed a clinical psychologist called Dr Lucy Johnstone. He referred to the increase in people claiming disability benefits for mental health issues and this includes young people. He asked her if she thought that that mental health issues were on the increase in Britain. She told him that mental health isn't getting worse and that she didn't think that these problems were best understood in terms of a medical illness, adding, "we are not sicker, but unhappier." Lucy Johnstone was of the opinion that many people are finding it difficult to cope with life because of the social deprivation and social problems that they face, and pointed to wider societal factors such as access to affordable housing and child care, as ways of improving mental health.

During the COVID lockdown, I spoke to a community mental health worker from Tameside Hospital. I asked her if there had been an increase in people being referred to the hospital since the COVID lockdown. She said the numbers had rocketed and that there had been a massive increase. I asked her what symptoms people were presenting with and she told me anxiety and depression. I'm not a clinical psychologist but I do know people who have experienced mental health problems because of that lockdown. I personally found it a strange experience and probably the worst two years of my life. But some people are more resilient than others and cope with stressful situations better.

I know one man who goes on a three-day bender if he's asked to attend a jobcentre interview. He recently had his benefits suspended because he failed to attend an interview. When he was asked why he failed to attend the appointment, he foolishly told his jobcentre adviser, that it interfered with his snooker. I believe he's now trying to get on PIP.

I'm well aware that both alcohol and drugs can induce psychosis but I wouldn't have thought that alcohol or drug dependency were mental health issues, but they are considered as such, when it comes to claiming disability benefits.