Mental health related deaths have skyrocketed over 50% in last three years – what’s behind the surge?

‘A shocking figure out of England shows that unexpected deaths among mental health patients have soared by nearly 50 percent in just three years. The term “unexpected deaths” can refer to suicide, misadventure, or neglect.
Luciana Berger, the country’s former shadow health minister, said she was “ashamed” to live in a country that allowed this to happen. From 2012-2013, 2,067 unexpected deaths were reported by the 33 mental health trusts that provided data; that figure had climbed to 3,160 by 2015-2016.
While serious funding cuts for mental health services over the past four years are shouldering some of the blame, this epidemic is also being seen in other countries, including the U.S. Psychiatry Professor David Healy points out that the common antidepressants known as SSRIs are responsible for a sobering 4,000 additional suicides every year in America and Europe, about 250 of which are in the U.K. In fact, he believes that a quarter of patients who take SSRIs end up feeling more anxious than they did before.’
Read more: Mental health related deaths have skyrocketed over 50% in last three years – what’s behind the surge?