Introduction

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that around one in six adults in Great Britain experienced moderate to severe depressive symptoms (29 September to 23 October 2022). This was similar to the previous year, but higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Prevalence of symptoms was higher among adults who were economically inactive because of long-term sickness (59 per cent), those who were unpaid carers for 35 or more hours a week (37 per cent), disabled (35 per cent), living in the most deprived areas of England (25 per cent), aged 16-29 years (28 per cent) or female (19 per cent).

While the ONS stressed that associations between the cost of living crisis and depression might not reflect a causal relationship, it found that people who had problems paying bills had higher rates of depression than those who found it easy to pay their bills. For example, one in four (24 per cent) of those who reported difficulty paying their energy bills experienced moderate to severe depressive symptoms compared to nine per cent of those who found it easy to pay these bills. Similarly, 27 per cent of people who reported difficulty affording their rent or mortgage had moderate to severe depressive symptoms – almost twice as many as those who could afford to pay these bills. Nearly a third (32 per cent) of those experiencing moderate to severe depressive symptoms said they had to borrow more money or use more credit than usual in the last month compared with a year ago; this compared to 18 per cent of those with no or mild depressive symptoms.