The Quick Fix

More than 31 million prescriptions for drugs such as Prozac were issued in 2006 - a 6% rise on the year before , the BBC reported .

In particular prescriptions for a group of drugs known as SSRIs, which include Prozac, rose by 10% last year from 14.7 mllion to 16.2million . There have been fears that the drugs are linked to suicidal thoughts and self-harm in some cases. In 2003, experts said SSRI antidepressants should not be given to teenagers after experts' concerns they made some patients suicidal. However, Prozac is still recommended for under-18s .

Research cited by MIND , the mental health charity, says the UK is trailing behind other countries in the use of other therapies.

The Guardian reports that levels of suicide and self-harming are soaring in mental health wards where there are few activities, locked wards and constant surveillance .
"It [ the psychiatric hospital ] can feel like a prison and unsurprisingly if people are very distressed at the time that's when they are most at risk ..."

A spokeswoman for MIND said: "Hospitals are sometimes hindering people's recovery rather than helping them to recover. There's boredom and frustration with nothing to do; with nothing to do they will think more and more about their problems and the isolation they face. It can make people deteriorate..."

The Independent on Sunday last month revealed how children as young as 12 are being incarcerated with adults in psychiatric institutions and that those children and teenagers are physically and verbally abused, left without proper therapy and housed with seriously disturbed adults.

Department of Health statistics show at any given time nearly a sixth of all adults are experiencing depression or anxiety. Mental illness accounts for a third of all illness in Britain.

More than 1.3 million older people have a mental illness such as depression and this figure will rise as the age of the population increases.

One sixth of the population suffers from a mental health problem every day.

One million people on incapacity benefit suffer mental health problems.

Mental health accounts for one third of all illness and 40 per cent of all disability in Britain.

More than 1.3 million older people suffer from depression or other mental illness.

The psychological pressures and the human alienation that people feel and experience from the effects of Capitalism carries a heavy toll . Perhaps not ALL mental illness will disappear when Socialism prevails but we can guarantee that the rates will be far, far less and those unfortunate to suffer will not be swept under the carpet , to be locked up and drugged by pharmaceuticals .