Some 28% of Britons have a mental disorder such as depression, anxiety or addiction, an analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found. The figure is the highest among 44 mostly rich countries covered by the report. The Netherlands ranks 2nd at 27%. France at 23% and Germany at 19%.
Experts warned that while it is positive to see greater openness around mental health, there is a risk of over-medicalising life’s ups and downs.
Joe Shalam, at the Centre for Social Justice, said: “Britain’s ailing mental health is driven by a combination of long-term challenges, including family breakdown and more recently the emergence of social media and screen time. We are a better society where people feel able to open up.
“But there is also a huge issue of diagnostic creep, with eight in 10 GPs now warning that the everyday challenges of life have been ‘over-medicalised’. This is running rampant in the welfare system, which is in urgent need of reform so people are properly supported and not parked on the margins.”
Official figures show the cost of health and disability benefits hit £56.9bn in the last financial year, up from £37bn before the pandemic.
One in 10 people in England and Wales are now claiming sickness or disability benefits, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
As a result, the number of people receiving health benefits has risen from 2.8 million in 2019 to four million people last year, with most of it fuelled by mental health or behavioural conditions.
