British Politician Calls For End To "Prozac Nation"

Nick Clegg, leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats, recently made some bold pronouncements about mental health treatment in the UK, basically that the NHS relies too much upon anti-depressants and makes it too difficult for patients to access psychological services.

"Clegg, who is putting mental health at the top of his party's public services agenda, said it was time that the issue was put at the centre of the political debate. He said: 'It is time to break the silence - we must take the issues around mental health out of the shadows.'

"He accused the Labour government of under investment in mental health services and failing to provide alternatives to drug therapies, branding Britain as the 'Prozac nation' after revealing that 31 million prescriptions were issued for anti-depressants in 2006, including 631,000 for children.

"He said: 'What does that say about us as a society - that we [accept] the explosion of anti-depressant use as if it was of no consequence?'"

While I generally think it's time to head for the hills when political leaders talk about how they will fix mental health services, I admire Clegg's forthrightness. It's interesting that it comes right on the heels of the MHRA slapping suicidality warnings on anti-depressants sold in the UK.