Change the Prescription

Change the Prescription explores what has driven the recent rise in the mental ill-health of our nation. It contends that the prevailing medical model often fails to address the core issue and may not offer the most suitable response. Change the Prescription advocates for a new approach to tackle the root cause of distress.

Our GPs certainly do not think the current approach is the right one. CSJ polling reveals that 83 per cent are concerned that antidepressants are prescribed when non-pharmaceutical interventions would be more suitable and 84 per cent agree that society’s approach to mental health has led to the normal ups and downs of life being seen as medical problems.¹

The statistics paint a bleak picture. One in five (20 per cent) people report having received at least one diagnosis of a mental health condition² and there has been a 70 per cent rise in the number of people in contact with mental health services in England over the last 8 years, now at nearly two million.³ Almost a fifth of adults in England are now taking antidepressants.⁴ The rise in diagnosis for children and young people is particularly acute. Currently a fifth of children aged 8 to 16 have a probable mental health disorder, up from 12.5 per cent in 2017.⁵ CSJ analysis has forecasted this could be one quarter of all children by 2030, if trends persist.⁶

We identify three areas that the Government will need to address to tackle the crisis in mental health at its root cause:

1. Some of the surge is undoubtedly a rise in prevalence and caused by the gradual erosion of the protective factors that enable good mental health. We have seen a hollowing out of strong families, cohesive communities, economic opportunity and good work.
2. Adding to this strained safety net came the ‘perfect storm’ of the post-pandemic world, where the nation was plunged into lockdown, and for many, screens were the only form of connection.
3. But this report suggests a third driver behind the soaring numbers; the over-medicalisation of mental health. This report proposes that simply looking at the number of diagnoses and prescriptions does not give us a full picture of the mental health of our nation, or how best to address it.

Change the Prescription advocates for the strengthening of families and education to support early intervention and prevention efforts. The report finds that change is required to protect children from exposure to harmful online content, which can have a detrimental impact on their mental health. To foster positive mental health, a new National Work and Health Service will help get the nation back on its feet. To tackle over-medicalisation, the report promotes enhancing diagnostic and prescription processes in general practice for mental ill-health, as well as a National Strategy for Social Prescribing with a branch for children and young people.

In a desire to support and enable individuals to have positive mental health, there is a danger that the pendulum has swung too far, and that the boundaries between distress and disorder have become blurred. This is not compassionate. It risks those who are unwell missing out on the treatment they deserve, and it risks burdening others with unhelpful labels and prescriptions that can hold them back without addressing the root cause of their very real needs. Unless we seriously re-evaluate our approach to mental ill-health by defining its reach, incorporating a social model and acknowledging the weaknesses of the current set up, prevention is not possible.

1. Original analysis conducted by Savanta for The Centre for Social Justice of 1,001 General Practitioners in the UK between 4 December 2024 and 17 December 2024.
2. CSJ analysis of Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study, Wave 13 2021 – 2022.
3. CSJ analysis of NHS England, Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics Dashboard: 4.People in contact with services. Accessed 10/01/2025.
4. CSJ analysis of NHS Business Services Authority, Medicines used in mental health – England – 2015/16 to 2023/24, 2024.Note: in each year there were a number of patients taking medicines for mental health with an unknown age. Population mid-year estimates sourced from ONS, Dataset: Estimates of the population for England and Wales: Population estimates for the UK and constituent countries by sex and age; Historical time series, Table 11, 2024.
5. NHS England, Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2023 – wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey, 2023.
6. CSJ, Two Nations: The State of Poverty in the UK – An interim report on the state of the nation, 2023.