Number of calls to mental health helpline jump as depression cases double

Data from the health and wellbeing provider, Health Assured has revealed the number of people calling for support for depression on their EAP (employee assistance programme) helpline increased by 31 percent in June compared to May this year. In June, the helpline received an additional 249 calls regarding the illness.

This worrying statistic comes after a report published last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the proportion of people in the UK suffering with depression has almost doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said 19 per cent of adults reported some form of depression during June, compared with 10 per cent in the nine months to March 2020. Stress and anxiety were the most common types of depression listed by people.

According to the ONS, almost one in five adults (19.2 percent) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in June 2020; this had almost doubled from around 1 in 10 (9.7 percent) before the pandemic (July 2019 to March 2020).

One in eight adults (12.9 percent) developed moderate to severe depressive symptoms during the pandemic, while a further 6.2 percent of the population continued to experience this level of depressive symptoms; around 1 in 25 adults (3.5 percent) saw an improvement over this period.