Psychological Therapies for Depression & Anxiety

In 2005 Lord Layard diagnosed depression as “Britain’s Biggest Social Problem”. The cost, he argued, of untreated common mental problems simply dwarfed the cost of investing in effective psychological therapies that could reduce the burden of disease to our economy and society.

It was an unassailable argument that persuaded the Treasury to support a national IAPT program. And as one of its key architects in 2008, Lord Layard envisaged it would take us 6 years to build a NICE-compliant talking therapies service with capacity to begin to make a real impact. With under a year to go to judgment day the Coalition Government, which has supported IAPT with an additional £450M investment, has published what is probably its final policy position, Closing the Gap, setting out its 25 key priorities in mental health for a final delivery push by 2015.

In relation to IAPT it states: “Over 900,000 people will benefit from psychological therapies every year”. Four years ago the New Savoy Partnership, together with IAPT, hosted a one-day conference following the update of NICE’s guidance for the treatment of depression.

We looked at prevention; identification; treatment options and collaborative care between GPs and talking therapists for longer-term cases and co-morbid conditions. Lord Layard opened the event. We return in 2014 knowing more about where NICE was right, but with other questions to answer.