The all too brief summer season has finally arrived with weddings galore, Wimbledon, Henley and Test matches on the horizon, and the spectre of Covid-19 vanquished – at least for now.
In the midst of so many joyous events, it is sobering to realise a staggering one in seven people in England are fighting off severe depression, using powerful psychiatric medicine with dangerous long-term side-effects
This almost unimaginable number of sufferers in an epidemic of mental illness has huge implications for society, the economy and financial services provision, as well as advisers.
Shockingly, the most recent Office for National Statistics and NHS England census shows that one in seven, or 14.7 per cent out of the 56.5mn people living in England, received at least one prescription for antidepressants in 2021-22, with yet more on medication for anxiety to schizophrenia.
Antidepressant prescription items have risen by 34.8 per cent, from 61.9mn in 2015-16 to a truly shocking 83.4mn in 2021-22.
Mental health in the workplace
Despite widespread mental illness in every stratum of society, modern day anti-discriminatory recruitment policies all too rarely extend in practice to job seekers with serious mental illness.
Firms are proud to trumpet diversity and inclusion policies on gender equality, inclusive ethnic and LGBTQIA+ recruitment; a few laudable firms even boast of hiring ex-offenders who have served their time in prison. And quite rightly so.
Yet it is sometimes easier for ex-offenders, including ex-prisoners, to find work than anyone who discloses a serious a mental health issue.
Young people straight out of university may find themselves on the scrap heap for life at 21, even with the best qualifications.
If graduates declare a serious mental health problem, they may be seen as 'unreliable' or 'likely to relapse' or will 'upset clients' or just 'not fit in'.
It is illegal for employers to ask health or health-related questions before making a job offer. Yet prejudice is so pervasive that many health professionals informally advise their patients not to reveal their medical history and cover up gaps in employment.
It is all too tempting for employers to reject people obviously on medication or in poor health. Hundreds are chasing every entry position. Some just get away with fallacious weasel words: 'We found someone who was more suited to the post'.
University is no Shangri-La
Four in five university students living away from home for the first time may suffer from conditions as low mood and depression, eating disorders, psychosis, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Most of the increase of so-called 'young, economically inactive people under 25' according to the ONS results from a recent rise in "mental illness and nervous disorders".
Indeed, the numbers of inactive people of working age rose by 500,000 in just over two years. Today, a staggering 9mn working age adults are inactive. Just 33mn do paid work. No wonder taxes are sky high.
