Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair has warned against over-medicalising the ‘ups and downs’ of life.
Sir Tony, who was Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, said there is a danger that too many people going through life’s normal challenges are being told they are suffering from a mental illness.
It comes amid a sharp rise in the number of young people diagnosed with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression in recent years.
Nearly a quarter of children in England now have a ‘probable mental disorder’, according to a recent report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Experts have previously highlighted the impact of the Covid pandemic and the disruption it has caused to children’s education and social lives, alongside the cost of living and social media as damaging to children’s mental wellbeing.
But speaking on the Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future podcast, Sir Tony said: ‘I think we’ve been very focused on mental health and people self-diagnosing.
‘We now spend much more on mental health care than we did a few years ago. And it’s hard to see what the objective reasons for that are.’
The former Prime Minister added: “Life has its ups and downs and everyone experiences them. And you have to be careful about encouraging people to think they have a condition other than simply meeting life’s challenges.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned against over-medicalising the ‘ups and downs’ of life
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“We need to have a good conversation about this because you really can’t afford to spend as much money as we spend on mental health care.”
Sir Tony’s calls come as striking new figures show the number of children referred for specialist anxiety treatment has doubled in just four years.
More than 200,000 children in England – or 4,000 each week – were waiting for treatment last year.
This is more than 100,000 more than in 2019/2020, when there were almost 99,000 in the queue.
Experts, who called the figures ‘shocking’, today blamed exam concerns, the influence of social media and the cost of living crisis for the ‘staggering’ rise.
But they warned the statistics could be just the tip of the iceberg, with other children suffering silently under the radar.
The new figures from NHS England show that in 2023/2024 there were 204,526 new referrals for patients aged 17 or under where the primary cause was anxiety.
By comparison, in 2019-2020 – the year before Covid struck – this was 98,953. In 2016-2017 there were 3,879.
Striking new figures show that the number of children referred for specialist anxiety treatment has doubled in just four years
More than 200,000 children in England – or 4,000 every week – waited for treatment last year
Andy Bell, director of the charity Center for Mental Health, said at the time: ‘These grim figures underline the urgency of tackling the mental health of children and young people today.
He added: ‘Our research indicates that academic pressures, especially those associated with exams, have increased over the past decade.
‘Growing poverty and inequality have also contributed to increased anxiety among children and young people, including factors such as financial stress within households and the impact of racism.
‘There is also evidence that online harm, such as cyberbullying and pressure around appearance, is brutal and can fuel anxiety in children.
‘The pandemic has increased these pressures on children and young people by disrupting their routines and increasing feelings of isolation and uncertainty about the world and their future.’
Despite this, there is concern among health chiefs that young people are being inappropriately branded with mental health diagnoses.
Last year the NHS launched a taskforce to investigate a worrying rise in the number of children and adults being diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
Experts have warned that rogue private clinics are over-diagnosing the condition and have questioned the widespread prescribing of powerful stimulant drugs to treat the condition.
Last year the NHS launched a taskforce to investigate a worrying rise in the number of children and adults being diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
The booming market is believed to be fueled by celebrities such as model Katie Price, Love Island star Olivia Attwood and actress Sheridan Smith talking about their ADHD ordeal and having to wait up to ten years for an NHS assessment.
Users also share on social media sites how medication helped them calm down, control their fidgeting and improve their concentration.
The number of patients taking drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has doubled in six years, with 230,000 patients taking the drugs in England last year.
The biggest increase was among young adults, with treatment among people aged 25 to 39 increasing fivefold since 2015.
The task force will bring together leaders from healthcare, education and justice to better understand how many people are affected and how to improve their care.
They will ‘examine the rate of growth within the independent sector and the potential variation in the service models and thresholds used’, as well as collect data to ‘fully understand the scale of the challenge’.