Disease of the month: Depression and anxiety disorders

The word ‘depressed’ is an everyday word, probably overused, often used along the lines of “I’m depressed”, when in fact what they actually mean is “I’m fed up because I’ve had a row, I hate my boss or I’ve split from my boyfriend/girlfriend”. The medical profession over the past decade has tried to label all sufferers of mental health issues, no matter how minor, which can be evidenced by the huge increase in International Classification of Disease codes from about 20 to over 350…..all related to mental health conditions. This article however, concentrates on the more severe end of t...