There is also the issue of the extremely stressful, unethical and damaging WCA by the DWP. How many of those self terminating had been subject to these? As the tests and DWP process has been made progressively more vicious & difficult to navigate (and now come the revelations of targets to sanction claimants), these can contribute to the increased death rates.

It would be nice if ‘call your GP and get help’ was the end of the problem, you will get drugs fairly quickly but there are waiting lists up to several months for talking therapy and then it is largely CBT which does not suit everyone by any stretch of the evidence. Unless you are wealthy and you can continue work you will come under the DWP in order to get money to survive and then you are subject to for profit Atos and non-medical DWP office workers with sanctions targets.

Sorry to be so unhelpful but the reality is the same political economy that has enabled the crisis is also enabling the destruction of social and health care.

Do go to your GP but also look at friends and/or family who can help you make the system help you and get the treatment that should be your right.

RickB could have been blunter than that. A double dip recession could be extremely nasty. As one who may be celebrated for taking the path to employment from work I am facing a 5 figure cut in my income when they reassess (ie, cut) my financial support given me for being disabled when they reassess all DLA recipients. This will hit a large number of people, and the wider risks, of mental breakdown (costly in treatment) and worse is a real and present danger.

Sadly, @1 and @2 are correct.

Look along any local highstreet and count up how many shops are closed down or carrying prominent “For Sale” or “To Let” signs and speculate on what happened to the folk who used to work there.

Even before the crisis starting in autumn 2007, with the run on Northern Rock, how many shops were occupied by charities? I’ve nothing against charity shops but how likely is it that charities would have taken on the tenancies if there had been alternative, commercial concerns?

When I look along my local shopping centres, there are no longer any butchers or green grocers and precious few hardware stores – just lots of banks, estate agents, charity shops, opticians, pharmacies, hair dressers, nailcare emporiums and coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and McDonald’s or KFC. That’s a sign of the times.

Unfortunately, there is also a double whammy for those who suffer mental illness after becoming unemployed, and that is the discrimination that goes with mental illness. It isn’t easy to escape that vicious circle.

Hardly surprising, but useful to see it confirmed in this way. Top prize for the first small-hearted Tory troll who pops up here to tell us some variation on “they should all just buck their ideas up / the National Suicide Prevention Strategy is a socialist front.” I’d appreciate the greater honesty of “I just couldn’t give a shit really.”

“US study finds that recessions do increase suicides and mental illness”

In other news, “Pope may not be a Protestant”

US study finds that Pope is indeed a Catholic