MBCT - tackling the depression epidemic

“Crippling depression and chronic anxiety are the biggest causes of misery in Britain today...one family in three is affected. Only one in four of those who suffer from depression or chronic anxiety is receiving any kind of treatment. We now have a million people on Incapacity Benefits because of mental illness - more than the total number of unemployed people receiving unemployment benefits.

Some 40% of all disability...is due to mental illness. Similarly, roughly 40% of people on Incapacity Benefits are there because of mental illness... Likewise at the surgery one third of those who appear each year have mental health problems, and they take up at least a third of GP time.”
'The Depression Report - A New Deal for Depression and Anxiety Disorder', London School of Economics 2006

Depression is becoming a national epidemic - and our health services are struggling to tackle it. It affects around one in five people at some point in their lives. Only one in four of those who suffer from it are receiving any kind of treatment. It has a high relapse rate – after the first episode, 50% are likely to have another; after two or more episodes, 80% are likely to have further depression.

Treatment for depression includes antidepressants and psychological therapies such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT). But, these conventional treatments are falling drastically short in helping tackle this epidemic. There is a considerable risk of relapse after coming off antidepressants and many people don’t want to take them long term. There is a shortage of trained therapists for CBT and IPT. And because they are resourse-intensive, they are usually provided individually.

“The number of prescriptions for antidepressants in England has hit a record high despite national guidance advocating alternative treatments. More than 31 million prescriptions for drugs such as Prozac were issued in 2006 - a 6% rise on the year before.”
BBC, 14 May 2007

“Over half (55%) of GPs believe that talking treatments are the most effective way to treat mild or moderate depression, yet 78% have prescribed an antidepressant while believing an alternative would have been preferable.”
’We Need to Talk’ report from the Mental Health Foundation, October 2006.

The tendency towards repeated relapse into depression - and the over-reliance on anti-depressants - is backed up by our own findings at the Breathing Space programme. We trialled a questionnaire during our MBCT course in January 2007, which was completed by 35 participants (77%). Amongst the findings were:
• 91% had had more than one relapse – of these 51% had had more than 3;
• 91% had tried other ways of preventing relapse in the past;
• 91% had consulted their GP for advice;
• 72% of participants had taken anti-depressant medication at some time;
• 56% had tried CBT;
• 88% had tried counselling or other talking therapies; and
• 72% had tried all three methods.

When asked why they had chosen to come on the course the most frequent response was a desire to cope with depression without medication.