Cash for recession depression

The Government has allocated an extra £13m to therapy services for people who are suffering from depression because of the impact of the recession on their lives.

The mental health charity Mind welcomed the extra funding and said there had never been a more important time to invest.

Mind's Chief executive Paul Farmer told BBC News: "Redundancy and money worries put strain on family relationships, cause sleepless nights, trigger stress and increase the risk of developing depression.

"When it comes to the scale of the current recession we are in uncharted territory about how many people could be affected.

"We must learn from the mistakes of past recessions where people lost their job, their confidence and their self esteem leaving them unable to return to the workforce."

Paul Corry, from the mental health charity Rethink, said: "One in four of us is going to experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives.

"We know from history that recessions, depressions and economic troubles bring on mental health problems in people."

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "We welcome this announcement, not least because we called for these measures to be introduced last year.

"Yet again we see that where the Conservatives lead, the government follows."

I wouldn't go as far as agreeing with the Tories, but I do agree that this is a positive move - I recently wrote a feature about the increase in mental health problems that have been a consequence of the credit crunch, and I am glad that this is being acknowledged by the Government.