PATIENTS across Scotland are struggling to access psychological help for depression, with many forced to wait months to see a specialist, figures seen by The Scotsman reveal.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a talking therapy that helps to put problems in perspective and deal with anxiety, is regarded as a crucial method of treating mild to moderate depression, often without resorting to medication.
But figures fr
om Scotland's health boards show patients can wait up to six months for CBT, leaving doctors no option but to prescribe antidepressants.
The news came as the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, warned that Britain was becoming the "true Prozac nation", increasingly reliant on antidepressants due to the government's "shameful neglect" of mental health services.
He committed his party to a guarantee of NHS treatment for mental health problems within 13 weeks.
Campaign groups in Scotland said some patients had been told they could wait up to a year or more for CBT on the NHS, leaving them no option but to seek private care at £90 an hour or more.
Figures show 3.65 million antidepressant prescriptions were issued in Scotland in 2006-7 – an increase of 125,764 on the previous year. A target has been set for NHS boards to cut the rise in antidepressant prescribing to zero by 2009-10. However, current indications are that doctors have little choice but to prescribe antidepressants owing to long waits for CBT.
Average waiting times for CBT towards the end of last year, revealed under freedom of information legislation, show wide variations in Scotland.
NHS Orkney said it had no waiting list for CBT, while NHS Forth Valley said it used a computer-based system to provide CBT for which there was no waiting list. But for patients needing face-to-face treatment, waiting times varied by up to five months as of November.
NHS Borders said that, between August and November last year, the average waiting time for psychological therapies, including CBT, was around six months.
Meanwhile, in NHS Highland, waiting times varied from 14 to 21 weeks. In NHS Dumfries and Galloway, those waiting for CBT could wait up to five months. Many of Scotland's largest health boards, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian and Grampian, said they did not hold details of average CBT waiting times.
Ilena Day, chief executive of Depression Alliance Scotland, said: "In Scotland, the rate of antidepressant prescribing remains higher than in other parts of the UK, with depression being one of the most common reasons for visiting a GP. Despite this, resources invested in mental health remain inadequate."
The Scottish Government said: "We are working with NHS boards and partners to increase the availability of psychological therapies such as CBT."
'IT WAS A REAL LIFE-SAVER'RUTH Lang, below, began suffering from depression more than 15 years ago.
Initially, she was lucky enough to have a psychiatrist who was an expert in CBT, and she described the treatment as "a life-saver".
However, she has recently discovered that she could have to wait six months or more to access the service again, and she knows of patients facing even longer waits around Scotland.
Ms Lang, from Livingston, West Lothian, said: "I started suffering depression in 1991. It was pretty severe, but luckily my psychiatrist was also an expert in CBT and was able to use that with me.
"It makes you feel you are more in control of your life. I feel better because I feel I have something I can use to control a problem."
Ms Lang, 52, who now works for the Depression Alliance Scotland, told how the charity had received calls from people who were worried they would have to wait between six and 18 months for CBT, and said it was a problem across Scotland.
