Slump gives City mental health crisis

Clinics serving the City are reporting a huge rise in calls from bankers and traders facing the threat of redundancy.

Emergency helplines are dealing with a record number of men at risk of suicide and women executives with eating disorders brought on by chronic stress.

Jonathan Naess, a director at corporate finance house Nabarro Wells before suffering a breakdown, warned there could be an epidemic of credit crunch-related mental illness in the Square Mile.

One London clinic has seen a 20 per cent rise in patients in two weeks. The Harley Street Practice, where most patients are from City and Docklands firms, said it was the busiest June in 15 years.

Consultant psychotherapist Bennedict Cannon said: "I'm getting middle managers, department heads, directors and line managers having very distressed, unrealistic and worrying thoughts."

LifeWorks, a helpline used by London's major banks and financial firms, has received 3,500 calls from people with anxiety and depression - a 10 per cent rise on last year. Project director James Slater said: "In the present climate, people are worried about redundancies and a potential recession which adds to people's anxiety-and can tip them over the edge." The City Psychology Group, with offices in Harley Street, is treating executives with stress-related illnesses such as stomach complaints. Director Dr Michael Sinclair said these are caused by the City's culture of stigma which forces people to suppress mental health problems. He said: "People are feeling more lost than usual because they can't move jobs easily so they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Mr Naess, founder of anti-stigma charity Stand to Reason, blamed macho attitudes for the fact staff are suffering in silence. He said: "We must stop being judgmental about people with mental illness."

Just over a quarter of blue-chip companies are signed up to Employee Assistance Programmes compared with two in five in the public sector. EAPs are used by firms to run confidential telephone helplines. Deloitte & Touche and UBS openly promote their counselling schemes, but Goldman Sachs refuses to comment on how it supports staff.

Mental health charity Mind today called on more firms to employ counsellors.