DR MAX: Too many people falsely believe they have mental health problems, which they wear like a badge of honour. We need to start being honest about the impact this is having on those REALLY in need...
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Britain is in the grip of a serious mental health crisis and, if things don’t change fast, it’s only going to get worse. However, the issue is not what you might expect. It’s not that more and more people are succumbing to mental illness, it’s that an increasing number of people who are not mentally unwell are trying to convince themselves, and others, that they are.
![[Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, echoed concerns]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/19/17/94268813-14302297-image-m-42_1737308822614.jpg)
GP surgeries and psychiatry outpatient clinics are seeing an increasing number of people who have self-diagnosed and are now convinced that they have mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD or neuro-developmental disorders like autism or ADHD.
![[The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman adds dramatic ffla]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/19/17/94268711-14302297-image-m-25_1737308338972.jpg)
Of course, some people do. But certainly not all of those who seem to cling to these diagnoses as a way of explaining and understanding the difficulties life throws at us – difficulties that are perfectly normal and that we all experience – do. There was a time when mental illness was shrouded in secrecy and stigma, so that many patients who desperately needed help were often too ashamed to come forward.
Fast forward to 2025 and it’s starting to feel like mental illness has become a badge of honour. Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair warned last week on a podcast of our rush to medicalise ‘the ups and downs’ of life. Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, echoed concerns.
