Mental health
Fact checks covering mental health service provisioning, self harm, suicide, anxiety and depression
The suicide rate may not have been rising in recent years
Sir Keir Starmer claimed the suicide rate is “going up”, based on a rise since 2007. But data for the last few years gives a mixed picture.
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Sunday Express misinterprets suicide data
We do not yet know whether suicides in young people rose in 2021. Suicide registrations did rise, but this may have been caused by delays earlier in the pandemic.
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Child self-harm numbers in the Guardian, Mirror and Independent don’t reflect survey’s actual findings
About 3% of parents taking part in a survey said their children had begun to self-harm in response to the cost of living crisis.
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Reports that ‘most teachers’ are suffering from depression are based on a self-selecting survey
The data comes from members of the NASUWT teaching union who chose to complete its survey, so it can’t reliably tell us about the wellbeing of teachers as a whole.
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New figures on healthcare workers' suicides should be treated with caution
Most of the suicides registered in the first half of 2020 occurred in previous years.
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Samaritans doesn't have a text number anymore
A post on Facebook shares out-of-date information about contacting the charity.
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Sun wrong to claim lockdown doubled suicide rates
Evidence suggests suicides did not increase after the first lockdown.
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It’s not clear if antidepressants cause hair loss
Research reported in the Express does not establish any link between the medication and losing your hair.
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A Bangladesh study doesn’t show that depression follows Covid-19
The Telegraph misreported a scientific study which found that many former Covid-19 sufferers had depression, but did not say whether the virus was to blame.
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There’s no evidence the number of people taking their own life fell during the Covid-19 pandemic
Health secretary Matt Hancock was wrong to say figures for England show a decrease in the number of people taking their own life.
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