Levels of neurosis remained static in the 1990s
BMJ 2001; 323 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7305.130/a (Published 21 July 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:130All rapid responses
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Having been extensively involved in ensuring the accuracy of data in
my large paperless practice, I am suspicious of all data as i know how
hard one needs to work to validate data. We have been paperless for 3
years and with a practice population of 14,000 I am fascinated how Read
code systems can be used as social documents. As we have a default record
and a small number of codes for neurotic type illness it is easy to look
at trends and be reasonably sure that they show something which may be
true.
The following search took me 3 mins.
12 month period. Read code hierarchy search on
Depressive disorder NEC
Anxiousness
2000/01 902 patients
1999/00 819 patients
1998/99 687 patients.
Thus we have a 31% rise in those codes. A more recent search showed
a year on year rise in antidepressant use with a 97% rise in the number of
prescriptions and a 56 % rise in the number of patients receiving an
antidepressants in each 12 month period over the last 4 years. I find
these figures very concerning. GPs are increasingly picking up the tab for
a stressed and unhappy society. The aetiology of this unhappiness is
beyond the scope of this reply but my figures suggest a profound problem
in my practice population
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Sir
Perhaps neurosis can be defined by questionnaires - but perception is
also crucial. Objectively, perhaps we are not more neurotic, but that begs
the question that all those articles, the rise in suicide rates and eating
disorders are surely telling us something?
Perhaps we should now include the question - "do you think or feel
that you are neurotic?". Does not the issue of either the media or people
saying that they are feeling more stresses of itself indicate a trend
towards increasing neurosis? We are clearly living not just in
"interesting" times, but also increasingly psychologised ones. We have to,
if only by virtue of the increasing level of scepticsm, incredulity and
disbelief required to see through the current Govt's varied psyche-
directed tactics.
Also, there may be areas of the country where neurosis is increasing
and others where it is decreasing. An average would cancel this out. A man
sitting with one foot in a bowl of ice and one of boiling water has his
feet in water of averagely aggregated warmth - but that will not do
justice to his description of level of comfort.
Yours faithfully
Dr Chris Manning
Competing interests: No competing interests
Happy in your own skin?
I read this news item with amusement. The prevalence figures are so
precise and look ever so accurate. I think this news report is an example
of the blinding power of numbers.
A better question might have been to turn the question round and ask
how many people are truly content with their lives. How many people are
living free of all worry and conflict and in perfect harmony with their
families, their neighbours and their communities?
As the Africans put it, how many of us are "happy in our own skin"?
I suspect that far fewer of us know this degree of content now than
previously. If you need evidence for our unsettled times look at rising
divorce and separation rates, crime rates, fear of crime rate, fear of
child abuse,unemployment rates, prisoner numbers,drug and alcohol misuse
rates.
Also note an inverse correlation between these rising numbers and
falling rates of participation in most forms of religion.
The WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and
spiritual wellbeing. Most of us (doctors and the public) in this country
are nowhere near this goal.
Hence our scepticism at these figures on the prevalence of anxiety.
Competing interests: No competing interests