Depression is expected to become the world’s second biggest health problem after heart disease by 2020, according to the World Health Organization. As it is, women are more affected than men – and the number of women suffering in England is rising, according to an NHS report published in January. About 20 per cent of adult women suffered from a common mental disorder – typically depression or anxiety – compared with about 12 per cent of men. In recent years the incidence of these disorders has risen fastest among women aged 45 to 64. At the same time, the number of prescriptions for antidepressants reached a record high of 36 million in 2008, a rise of 2.1 million from 2007. In a 2006 survey for the medical magazine Pulse, 93 per cent of GPs said that they had had little alternative but to prescribe antidepressants because waiting lists for 'talking therapies’ were so long. Last year the Government announced more funding to train therapists; however, recent reports suggest that it may be scaling down the £173 million initiative.