What's in the news...

Over 31 million subscriptions for antidepressants were given out in Britain by doctors last year and it's suggested that many patients do not actually need them; that using chemicals with their associated side effects is not the best way to treat many depression cases.

Around one in five people will be affected by depression at some point in their lives although many cases go untreated and it is estimated that 70% of suicides are attributable to depression.

Campaigners say that: "Taking regular exercise in a green space could alleviate the symptoms of sufferers, but a lack of funding for such treatments contributes to the increasing use of antidepressants as a 'quick fix', despite government pledges to bring an end to the 'Prozac nation'."

Mind, the mental health charity states that adult patients with moderate depression should instead be given counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy or encouraged to take more exercise.