Editor's letter

According to the charity SANE, the statistics suggest a quarter of people reading this will be directly affected by mental illness at some point in their lives. And yet we still frequently hear of the continuing ‘stigma’ attached to illnesses such as depression and anxiety – either that they aren’t taken seriously enough, or that non-sufferers simply feel unable to help with such complex, imperfectly understood and deeply personal problems.

If a public taboo does persist however, something seems to have shifted in the past couple of months. I would be surprised if mental health – here in the UK at least – has ever generated so many column inches in such a short space of time; hitting the headlines again and again, alongside numerous individual stories of pain and progress, and much advice on the merits of different treatments.

In early February new Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, lamented that Britain had become a “Prozac nation”, with doctors prescribing too many anti-depressants, and some people waiting for up to two years for psychotherapy and counselling services from some NHS trusts. He told the Guardian Public Services Summit: “Pills must not be a crutch for the wider issues in our society which cause mental health problems.”

Less than a month later, researchers from the University of Hull then concluded the depressed can, in fact, “improve without chemical treatments”. Reviewing data collated from a total of 47 clinical trials, the team found some of the most common anti-depressants could only be said to have an effect on the most severely depressed patients. The manufacturers of such drugs have disputed the findings, but research leader Professor Irving Kirch said: “The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very great.” At the same time, a survey carried out by the Mental Health Foundation found an increasing number of GPs are instead now prescribing regular exercise as an official form of therapy – 22 per cent, compared to just five per cent three years ago.

Both sides of the British political spectrum have been pushing the so-called ‘happiness’ agenda in recent years – in terms both of school education and work/life balance in the workplace. And yet another recent study, this one from Edinburgh University, concluded our average level of personal happiness is at least 50 per cent genetic.

But the other 50 per cent is linked to lifestyle, career and personal relationships. Some of us spend more time at work that we do at home these days, and those reading this are certainly more likely to fall into that bracket. It should be immediately apparent that happy employees are more productive employees – more willing to go the extra mile; better at building business; more confident and creative problem-solvers. Their employers will lose fewer working days to stress, and likely lose fewer people they want to keep from the clutches of the competition. Creating and communicating a supportive working environment, quite simply, makes business sense.

Congratulations, therefore, to those 11 law firms that made it into the 2008 Sunday Times list of the top 100 companies to work for in the UK – four more firms than in 2007. Manchester-based Pannone continued to lead the group, dropping just two places to fifth. Its closest rival was Brabners Chaffe Street, making a huge jump from 67th in the list to 27th.

Addleshaw Goddard, Trowers & Hamlins, Mischon De Reya, Wragge & Co, Mills & Reeve, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Freeth Cartwright and Olswang will also be celebrating, and Linklaters becomes the first magic-circle firm to make a showing (in 93rd place).

Mental illness can blight the lives of even the happiest, of course – regardless of wealth, career opportunities or lifestyle, and however much employers invest in their people. Some confusion may continue surrounding causes and cures, but it is widely recognised that the very act of talking things through with others helps a great deal – professionally or otherwise. Any greater public discussion of the subject can only be a good thing, and long may it continue.

Richard Brent

Editor

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