One-in-six people in Greater Manchester are suffering from depression or anxiety – with doctors prescribing more than £14m of antidepressants in the last year, the M.E.N. can reveal.
Experts say the economic downturn has led to a huge increase in the number of people being treated for mental health problems.
More than 400,000 people in the region currently have some form of depression or anxiety, according to NHS figures.
And doctors are linking the spike with job losses and service cuts caused by state of the economy.
Dr Raj Patel, medical director of NHS Greater Manchester and himself a GP, said: "The recession has had a huge impact on the number of people coming to my surgery with depression.
"Many patients are showing anxiety due to dealing with more work pressures and heavier workloads as a result of cuts and redundancies.
"We also see depression associated with worklessness as well."
Experts also say the high cost of drugs is due to the long waiting lists for other treatments for depression, like counselling.
Patients could wait up to three months for ‘talking therapies’ – but tablets can show results within four weeks.
In total, primary care trusts in Greater Manchester spent £14,600,114 prescribing anti-depressant medication between July 2010 and June this year.
Doctors in Manchester prescribed the highest amount of the drugs – £2,838,626 worth – while Bury prescribed the lowest, at £1,034,885.
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said: "Unfortunately, until psychological therapies become more available, doctors have little choice but to prescribe antidepressants or risk sending a patient away empty-handed.
"It would be a pity if people were discouraged from seeking help.
"The worst risk is untreated depression, which can lead to loss of jobs, loss of relationships and even loss of life."
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moan...moan....winge....woe is me....snap out of it.
this recession wasn't just caused by banks.
it was caused by idiots buying the huge 76inch tv screens and believing that this sort of instant gratification will keep them up with the jones'.
cheap credit.....there's no such thing....did everyone seriously believe that a 125% mortgage is the right thing thing to do.
25 pounds a month for 7 years for a car that isn't worth the first 2 years of payments.
how stupid do some people have to be.
the answer is simple.
work out how much you need to survive and get a job that pays more money.
or 2 jobs or even three.
look at getting a job abroad if you need to but make more money than you spend, spend less, save more and don't believe there is a quick fix.
me? i saw this coming and i'm just glad i'm not a thick as most people out their.
my 32 inch telly is 15 years old and going strong unlike half of the cheap chinese garbage being sold on the internet.
This 'coalition' has depressed us all - time for change!
Wouldn't be so bad if so many people didn't lie about their status when having their prescription filled. There only ever seems to be me that pays in our chemist.
If it was not for Prozac I would be on anti-depressants too.
The cause of depression may not be chemical-related, but the effects are. A chemical treatment is a good approach to the problem in my experience. I was unemployed for 6 months 3 years ago, trying to get a job after being in stable employment for 28 years. Through anxiety, I would get rushes of adrenalin for no apparent reason which was very unpleasant, almost disabling and very worrying (feeding the problem). I was prescribed Citalopram which helped a lot. I did get a job, but the symptoms continued for a while meaning that the illness had to be now solely physiological. Chemical treatment was therefore very apt. Oh, and Labour was in power then, with the credit crunch in full swing.
It's worrying that a GP doesn't seem to know the difference between clinical depression and unhappiness. An economic downturn can no more cause depression than it can cause haemorrhoids.