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In a recent podcast , Tony Blair warned against “medicalising the ‘ups and downs of life’”, suggesting: “You’ve got to be careful of encouraging people to think they’ve got some sort of condition other than simply confronting the challenges of life”.
Anyone who’s been through a challenging period of their life knows that of course it can impact their mental health.
Tony Blair also commented that, “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.”
We can think of more than a few.
- 24% of people in Britain often struggle to make ends meet.
- People living in the lowest 20% income bracket are 2-3 times more likely to develop mental health conditions.
- 60% of people in Britain have made cuts to their spending because of the cost of living pressures.
- A third of adults in Great Britain are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage.
- People receiving housing benefits are more than twice as likely to have a mental health condition.
There are over 2 million people in the UK currently on mental health service waiting lists. While mental health accounts for 20% of all health issues, it only receives 10% of NHS funding. So we agree: more conversation and sustained action needs to be taken, urgently.
But making light of a people’s current issues and stigmatising their lived experience is not the answer.
Rather than blame people for an increase in mental health diagnoses, we must create the conditions for people to live healthy, satisfying lives, alongside investing in holistic mental health support in the heart of our communities.