Prescriptions for antidepressant drugs have more than doubled in the past 10 years, a sure sign that the national mood is on a downward curve. Part of the reason is economic and material – average real incomes are static or falling, and the quality of public services has slipped downhill in a decade. But this isn’t enough of an explanation.

People will put up with austerity, whether the continuing struggle to feed and clothe a young family on a low income or the irritating inconvenience of not being able to book a doctor’s appointment inside a week, if they know there is a positive purpose behind it.