In the UK, one in four adults experience a mental health problem each year, and suicide rates are on the rise. The NHS is buckling under the weight of soaring demand, with record waiting times and a growing reliance on emergency care.

Yet, as pressure intensifies, the Health Secretary has claimed there is an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions in response to the half a million people who have begun claiming mental health-related benefits since the pandemic.

Experts warn that the mental health crisis is closely linked to worsening physical health and deepening health inequalities. One in four adults is now obese, and many are left languishing for years on NHS waiting lists. Those in precarious jobs and housing situations often suffer the worst mental health outcomes.

Others highlight a broader social breakdown, worsened by the pandemic - marked by the erosion of family ties, community networks, and religious life. At the same time, technology and especially social media are fuelling loneliness, as real-world human connection becomes increasingly rare.

Some argue that the rise in mental health diagnoses is socially contagious and self-perpetuating. They see it as part of an increasing tendency to seek diagnoses and quick pharmaceutical solutions for the ordinary stresses and challenges that accompany everyday life.

Why is mental illness rising so rapidly in the UK? Are we medicalising normal human emotions? Should mild and severe psychiatric illnesses be classed together? How do social and economic structures contribute to poor mental health? And how do we fix a system that leaves so many waiting months for help?