The NHS’s approach to treating anxiety urgently needs an overhaul (HSJ, 25 March 2026)

Summary

The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) has examined the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) anxiety guideline in detail and the extent to which it had fallen behind was startling. This HSJ article argues that NICE’s anxiety guideline is outdated and no longer fit for purpose, having not been meaningfully updated since 2012. It relies on obsolete diagnostic frameworks such as DSM‑IV, omits newer standards like DSM‑V and ICD‑11, and contradicts NICE’s own depression guideline, creating confusion for clinicians treating common cases of comorbid anxiety and depression.

A coalition of more than 50 organisations and individuals, including Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and more than 20 parliamentarians, including Danny Chambers MP and Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, have written to NICE calling for an urgent, wholesale review of the anxiety guideline. We are calling for the guideline to be brought into line with the depression guideline, to properly address access for marginalised groups, and to place genuine patient choice at its centre.