A ‘back to work’ approach to mental illness is no panacea

‘It is not a matter of getting people to a position of 100% remission for them to be able to use their skills in the workplace.’ Photograph: Quality Stock/Alamy

Successive governments refuse to acknowledge that mental illness overwhelmingly affects people from a lower socioeconomic class (Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions, 16 March). There’s a reason that the prescribing of antidepressants is so much higher in areas where poverty is prevalent.

I’m a mental health nurse in a struggling NHS. I also struggle to make ends meet in an age where my outgoings leave me almost nothing. I pay high rent to a multimillionaire and am unable to save a penny. Nor do I really enjoy the fruits of my labour with my dependants.