Everyday stress is being wrongly labelled as mental health issues, say majority of GPs

Yahoo

26-01-2025

The majority of doctors believe the ups and downs of life are too readily diagnosed as mental health disorders, new research has suggested.
A poll of 1,001 GPs showed that 84 per cent of doctors think normal reactions to life's stresses and strains are being wrongly seen as medical problems.
The survey, conducted as part of a report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), revealed doctors' concerns that this has led to an abundance of unnecessary prescriptions. In total, 83 per cent of GPs polled said they feared antidepressants were being handed out when alternatives would be more suitable.
Almost a fifth of adults in England are now taking antidepressants, according to the CSJ. The think tank warned that the mounting impact of diagnoses on the public purse would continue to spiral 'unless we seriously re-evaluate our approach to mental' health conditions.
'Misunderstood mental ill-health is the leaky bucket draining the nation,' the report said.
It comes after Sir Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, warned earlier this month against the trend for self-diagnosing mental health problems.
'I think we have become very, very focused on mental health and with people self-diagnosing on mental health,' Sir Tony told the podcast Jimmy's Jobs for the Future.
'And I think we need a proper public conversation about that because I think it's a very, very difficult question.
'We're spending vastly more on mental health now than we did a few years ago. And it's hard to see what the objective reasons for that are.'
Philippa Perry, the psychotherapist and bestselling author, made similar remarks this week as she warned that a 'reality crisis' means too many people are misdiagnosing their feelings as mental health conditions.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the author said normal emotional responses to situations were too often being treated as deep-rooted disorders, and in some cases making things worse.
'We're in a reality crisis, meaning that people think their feelings are so real now that they're not worried about facts at all,' she said.
'It's very normal to have painful, uncomfortable feelings in response to our experience of the world. If you haven't got enough money, why wouldn't you have anxiety? Or shyness — we used to have shyness. It was normal to go into a party where you don't know anyone, and feel it. But now 'you have social anxiety disorder'.
'There's no other illness that has to sell itself by putting 'disorder' on the end. You don't have cancer disorder, or diabetes disorder.'
Ms Perry, author of the 2019 bestseller The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will be Glad That You Did), said diagnoses appear to have rocketed in recent years as people try to make sense of their lives in a period of religious decline.
'It's a narrative that makes sense of how they feel. Human beings are made of stories — it's what makes us different from cats. We used to have religion to give us a story, and now the current trend for making sense of your feelings is a diagnosis,' she said.
'The diagnosis is a story that makes sense of your life, so no wonder you'd cling on to that. And it's nice to begin with because you feel, 'Oh, it's not my fault that I leave my keys in the fridge.' But it takes away from your self-agency, and I think it's got out of hand.'
Other experts have claimed the pandemic and multiple national lockdowns catalysed a mental health crisis among young people that has failed to improve.
The number of working-age people on health-related benefits has risen by a million since 2019 to 4.2 million, according to a study last year by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Meanwhile, an NHS survey of children and young people's mental health found that 20 per cent of children aged 8 to 16 had a probable mental disorder in 2023, up from 12 per cent in 2017. The figure rose to 23 per cent among those aged 17 to 19, up from 10 per cent in 2017.
Some have pointed to social media as helping fuel a rise in young people self-diagnosing mental health conditions. A recent report by insurer AXA Health suggested around 30 per cent of Britons aged 16 to 24 declared themselves to be suffering from issues such as anxiety or depression before consulting a professional.
Labour ministers have signalled that they hope to bring down the spiralling welfare bill, but are yet to reveal specific plans.
The Telegraph reported earlier this month that No 10 and Treasury figures think significant reductions are needed to personal independence payments (PIP).
The annual cost of support payments for people with disabilities and health conditions is forecast to soar from £22 billion to £35 billion by 2029 – a 60 per cent increase.
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