Doctors, patient groups and campaigners are becoming increasingly concerned at the soaring use of anti-depressants in Britain. Prescriptions for the drugs have soared in the past 10 years, and now stand at around 26 million. It is estimated those prescriptions are given to about three million patients.

The Depression Alliance estimates that, in addition to the three million people who are being treated for depression, a further 8.7 million are left undiagnosed and untreated. In total that’s around a quarter of the population of Britain. On top of this half a million people are estimated to be using Class A drugs, and binge drinking & self-abuse has reached record levels.

Twenty years ago depression in children was almost unknown. Now the fastest rate of increase in depression is among young people. Major depression is now the 4th most disabling condition in the world, and the 2nd most in the so-called developed world. It is predicted that if things don’t change, depression will soon be the number one killer in the world.

Psychologist Oliver James, states that “compared to the 1950s, between three and 10 times more people now suffer from clinical depression.” And this despite the fact that GDP is at record levels, and that most people enjoy a material affluence which our parents could only dream of. The past decade itself has brought the lowest inflation, interest rates and unemployment for 40 years and an unprecedented period of uninterrupted economic growth - and yet mental health has declined sharply in this period. It it quite evident then that at a time when we’ve never had it so materially good, more and more of us have never felt so bad.

Oliver James lays the blame for this on modern culture, and specifically what we are encouraged to define as success in contemporary society ie. the pursuit of status, money, good looks & power. James says it is this which is to blame for leaving us increasingly dissatisfied, and states that “a lot of mental health problems stem from the rise of the individualist, aspirational culture. This means we’re defining ourselves increasingly through external things – what we do, what we own, how much we earn . We’re forever comparing ourselves to others and finding ourselves wanting.”

He lays much of the blame at the door of the “American version of advanced capitalism which is constantly telling us not to be satisfied with what we’ve got.” He also puts advertising squarely in the dock – and one of the gravest charges it faces is screwing up our self-image.

For example James says that “people’s ideas of what’s attractive have been distorted by the constant daily bombardment of countless pictures of absurdly perfect young bodies.” Distorted literally, in some cases. James quotes psychological tests in which women’s partners were asked to rate their other half’s looks before and after exposure to a whole array of ad-style images of bodies beautiful. Result? After focusing on the supermodels, they not only downgraded their partner’s attractiveness, but many also said they were ‘less in love’ with her.

So a fair whack of the population feels unhappy about something they can do precious little about. No wonder we’re depressed. No wonder, either, that one of Dr James’s prescriptions for a healthier society takes the form of a robust pro-scription of such neurosis-inducing hype. “We should not allow the rape of our minds by advertising to continue. In a sane society we would regulate this.” James went on to further state that “the dominant values of Western Society are almost literally programming us to be unhappy”.

It is therefore clearly apparent that a society that is driven by rapacious consumerism, which lauds and promotes the cult of self-gratification, and which quantifies success in purely material terms, will always produce more unhappy people, than a society that places human inner-needs above commercial and economic needs.
As a solution James suggests that societies “should judge their success by the mental health of the nation.” Rather than obsess over economic indicators, he proposes a “regular national audit of mental health”, based on a range of carefully conducted interviews of a sample of the populace. This could then be used as a basis for working out “precisely how public policies were impacting on public wellbeing”.

Meanwhile, James states that “the single most important thing the government can do would be to come out and say: ‘We don’t see economic growth as the primary goal, and nor should you, as citizens, believe in this nonsense that if only you were richer, you would be happier.” Because the evidence, says Oliver James, points in precisely the opposite direction.