By Jo Jamison, 20th May 2008.

One in eleven people in the UK are in debt or arrears (that is separate from their mortgage) but for people with mental health problems, this figure rises to one in four says the Mind Campaign launched on 10^th May, 2008.

Worryingly, the research also found that banks are doing little to help. Of the 37% who told their banks they were suffering from mental health problems, 87% still faced payment harassment from those same banks. The report also shows that debt and mental health are inter-related; that one can cause the other. It is therefore a pertinent time in which these findings are released. As the credit crisis unravels, more people are missing debt repayments as banks raise their costs and tighten their lending due to losses on a massive scale.

So, as the middle classes join lengthening queues seeking debt advice, the question is how will the crisis unfold further and how will you be affected? Furthermore, what are we the general public going to do about it? As the burden of debt and mental health problems play a greater role in our homes, communities and national budgets, difficult questions will be in need of answering.