Britain's National Health Service faces financial pressures, perhaps a 4 to 5 percent cut, in funding mental health programs including psychotherapy. Political parties are at least campaigning on mental health services as they debate how to allocate resources, reports Timesonline.
Labour has promised to recruit more than 8,000 new psychological therapists if it wins the election, while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats also say that they will increase access to counselling services.
Waiting times run into the months for people needing therapy for depression or anxiety disorders, conditions considered "soft." Timesonline reports Professor Shon Lewis, saying:
"These services are a soft option -- you can drag money out and people won't die straight away, unlike cancer services. What does happen is that some very vulnerable people have a miserable quality of life and may end up killing themselves a couple of years down the line. If that happens, then we have failed them."
