Britain is in the throes of a serious mental health crisis and if things don’t change quickly it will only get worse.
However, the problem is not what one might expect. It is not that more and more people are succumbing to mental illness, but that an increasing number of people who are not mentally ill are trying to convince themselves and others that they are.
GP surgeries and psychiatric outpatient clinics are seeing increasing numbers of people who have self-diagnosed and are now convinced they suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, OCD, post-traumatic stress disorder or mood disorders. neurological development such as autism or ADHD.
Of course, some people do. But certainly not everyone who seems to cling to these diagnoses as a way of explaining and understanding the difficulties that life throws at us – difficulties that are perfectly normal and that we all experience – do so.
There was a time when mental illness was shrouded in secrecy and stigma, so many patients who desperately needed help often felt too embarrassed to report it.
Fast forward to 2025, and we begin to feel like mental illness has become a badge of honor.
Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair warned in a podcast last week about our rush to medicalise “the ups and downs” of life.

Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, echoed the concerns
I would never want us to go back to those dark days when mental health issues were never talked about, but I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
The current crisis – with so many “worried healthy” people seeking a diagnosis – results in a waste of mental health professionals’ time and resources, so that those who really need it are left out.
Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair highlighted this issue last week in a podcast, when he warned of our rush to medicalise “the ups and downs” of life.
He also raised concerns about the dangers of self-diagnosis, echoed by Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, who said Britain has a “problem” with people “looking for labels to explain their concerns.” “. He added that such people would “rather have a label than consider why their life might be challenging or where it might have gone wrong.”
Inevitably, as always happens when attempts are made to suggest that mental health conditions are misunderstood and misdiagnosed, Sir Tony and Dame Clare came under fire.
Whenever I say something similar, I receive many supportive emails and letters, but also a handful of the vocal minority who accuse me of being cold and uncaring.
Isn’t it strange that this is the response when you try to tell people that they are not mentally unwell? Imagine a cancer specialist saying that you don’t actually have cancer and being told that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
As a doctor, I consider it my moral and professional duty to ensure that people are not unnecessarily medicalized. My job is to explain that although your life may be difficult, it doesn’t necessarily make you feel bad mentally. Life is not a bed of roses, we all have to make peace with that.
However, when we say this, there is often a lot of opposition from patients. They don’t want to be told that they are perfectly fine because then they will have to address the problems in their life that they are having a hard time dealing with.
I recently attended a meeting of consultant psychiatrists where precisely this question arose. One revealed that she now spends most of her time telling her patients that they do not suffer from any mental illness. “I thought no one wanted to be mentally ill,” he said, rolling his eyes. “It turns out that everyone does it.”
She said that when she explains to patients that what they are describing is not depression, for example, they look at her perplexed and respond, “But I’m not happy,” somehow imagining that we are supposed to exist in a perpetual state of happiness. euphoria.
It is alarming that people are now so convinced that they suffer from a mental illness that some exasperated doctors give in to their demands and give them the label they so desperately seek. This means that a small but significant minority can claim benefits and even stop working altogether.
I can’t tell you how many people I see who have been fired because of their mental health issues, often because of pretty dubious symptoms that I’m not convinced constitute actual mental illness. Some then languish at home, watching television all day, playing computer games and smoking cannabis. And guess what happens? They end up developing real mental health problems. Others become so accustomed to inactivity and become so isolated by staying at home that they end up in ruin.
Let me just say how truly wonderful it is that people are now talking so openly about their problems, instead of sweeping them under the rug. However, my biggest concern with the current crisis is that we now risk mislabeling normal feelings as something to worry about.
It sends the message that life should always be positive and joyful when we all know that it is riddled with frustration, disappointment, and terrifying uncertainties.
So, yes, let’s keep talking, but can we expand that conversation to encompass the realities of life and tools?
We need to increase our resilience, rather than allowing so many people to falsely believe that they are mentally unwell.
Shocking testimonies from nurses have revealed that patients, stripped of their dignity, are dying in cold, drafty corridors in hospitals across the country. We were pioneers in healthcare in the UK.
How did things come to this?
Why I am a big fan of The Traitors

Los Traidores host Claudia Winkleman adds a dramatic ffla
I’m obsessed with The Traitors. It teaches us a lot about group psychology. Cliques develop, alliances are formed, and many contestants struggle to recognize that there may be a traitor in their group.
The roundtable segment is a great example of herd mentality and how quickly people will adapt to a group view, even if this goes against what they believe.
It’s a well-known phenomenon demonstrated by psychologist Solomon Asch, who discovered in his classic group experiment that 75 percent would deliberately select incorrect answers to questions to conform to others.
In The Traitors, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, many “faithful” vote against their best judgment to banish a contestant. They are afraid to speak up, as this may set them apart or risk the group turning against them.
To me, the show shows that most of us value conformity above what we believe to be true.
‘You won’t go out to play until you’ve eaten everything on your plate!’
How often have you heard this from parents trying to get their children to finish a meal? However, this attitude may be helping to fuel the country’s obesity epidemic.
A survey by the British Nutrition Foundation revealed that more than half of parents made their children eat everything on their plate.
This normalizes the need to continue eating even when children feel full. Additionally, experts warn that many parents overestimate how much their children should eat, too large a portion.