Anxiety and Depression - the
long wait for therapy. by Jim Brackin
Anxiety combined with depression is the most common form of mental health
problem. Research by the Mental Health Foundation suggests that one in four of
the adult population of the UK will experience some kind of mental health
problem in the course of the next year. The National Office of Statistics show
that 7.7% of the population suffer from the combined effects of depression and
anxiety at any one time. Additionally 3.1% suffer from anxiety and 2.1% from
depression. That's a total nearing 14%. Not surprising then that Richard Layard,
chair of the Mental Health Policy Group reports that "Crippling depression and
chronic anxiety are the biggest causes of misery in Britain today. They are the
great submerged problems, which shame keeps out of sight."
The total cost of depression was estimated at £3 billion per year costing the
NHS £420 million whilst only 2% of NHS expenditure was spent on tacking these
problems. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
believe that people with anxiety and depression should be offered the choice of
psychological therapy. This view is also backed by Richard Layard because in a
study conducted by the Mental Health Foundation it was demonstrated that therapy
is, in the short term, at least as effective as drugs and, in the long term,
better at preventing relapse. No surprise then that the NICE guidelines
recommend that everyone should have the therapy option made available.
But that's simply not an option for those that need it most, as there are simply
too few therapists available. Those people choosing the therapist option would
have to wait at least nine months or more before getting an appointment. So if
they want to avoid taking prescribed medicines, their options are limited to
either private treatment which can be very expensive or 'remote therapy' from an
online therapy site.
Perhaps this is why there has been a dramatic rise in the private or self-help
alternatives available. The last couple of years have seen a dramatic growth of
remote therapy sites providing for psychological issues ranging from anxiety,
depression, insomnia, phobia and stress. Try it for yourself, just google
'psychotherapy, online, self help, UK' and you'll find sites like virtual-therapist.com
which have become very popular in the last few years. Produced by recognised
therapists, the sessions are recorded onto mp3 of pdf format and can be
downloaded for immediate private use. Although not having the benefit of
face-to-face interaction with a therapist, they do have the advantage of being
able to be used over and over again whenever needed. For example, imagine a
nervous person having the benefit an Anxiety Therapy that has been downloaded
onto their mp3 player that's instantly available for whenever an anxious moment
surfaces. And it's not just about convenience these therapies are available for
a fraction of the typical £750 fee charged for a course of treatment by a
private behavioural therapist.
Other reasons why these remote therapies may have become increasingly mainstream
is that they are anonymous, instantly available and surprisingly effective.
Whatever the reason there is no denying that they very popular. Over the last
year many of the self-help therapy sites have reported a 300% increase in
download traffic. It's clear that self help therapy is fulfilling a need because
even by NICE's own estimates it would take at least seven years to train all of
the 10,000 therapists needed to fulfil the current demand.
It seems that for many that suffer with issues like anxiety or depression, this
wait is just too long.
About the Author: Jim Brackin contributes tips, help and advice on
behaviour
and psychology to variety of magazines like Cosomopolitan, Real and Women's
Own. He is the body language expert for Sky News (UK)and developed Personaliteye
which provides freePsychometric
and personality profiling. This article is taken from www.goarticles.com
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