The Spectator Podcast: Overdosed

On this week’s episode, we discuss the state of mental health in this country, and whether doctors are all too happy to prescribe medication as the miracle solution to mental illnesses. We also ask what on earth is the deal with Cambridge Analytica, and commemorate the death of the world’s last male northern white rhino.

Is medication the answer to our mental health crisis? Studies show that the British are among the most depressed in the world. But, in this week’s cover, Angela Patmore writes that doctors rely on pills too much and overlook their terrible side-effects, including behaving aggressively towards oneself and others. Isabel Hardman, who presents the podcast, has written about those side-effects in her own piece for the magazine this week. Simon Wessely, Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College London, joins Isabel and Angela for a lively debate. Angela tells the podcast:

‘I think we’re missing a very important point here… If you take the patient information leaflet out of the packet… it says in there: “If you are depressed or have anxiety disorders, you can sometimes have thoughts of harming or killing yourself.