The recession has taken its toll on the mental wellbeing of workers throughout the country, according to research.

A survey by mental health charity Mind has shown that the recession has had a devastating effect on the wellbeing of British workers, with one in 10 workers who took part saying they had sought support from their doctors and seven per cent having started taking antidepressants for problems directly caused by the pressures of recession on their workplace.

The findings, which launch Mind's campaign Taking Care of Business, coincide with new government statistics showing the biggest rise in antidepressant prescriptions ever, with a record 39.1 million issued in 2009, up from 35.9 million in 2008.

Mind's Populus poll of 2050 workers also found that, as a direct result of the recession, one in 20 workers had seen a counsellor, half said staff morale was low and 28 per cent claimed to be working longer hours. As many as one in three workers felt staff had to compete against each other for jobs.

Mind said its findings prompted fears for the mental health of hundreds of thousands of workers who faced debilitating pressure as businesses tightened their belts. It said that while the recession may have exacerbated mental distress in the workplace, badly managed stress and workplace mental health problems were a long-standing issue.

The research found that over the course of their careers almost 50 per cent of people had lost sleep due to work, 22 per cent had developed depression, one in five said work stress had made them physically ill and one in four had cried at work due to unmanageable pressure.

In contrast, only 38 per cent of workers thought their current employer was doing enough to support them.

Mind's Taking Care of Business campaign aims to improve working environments and working lives, transforming attitudes to mental wellbeing at work.

Dragon's Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, who is supporting the campaign, said: "The recession will really have an impact on many employees who are a bit insecure in their jobs, who maybe aren't sure that the company is doing well and are scared in case the company goes into administration, or redundancies are made. "It's a very anxious time. However, the recession is also a good time for businesses to be working on promoting good staff wellbeing. You've got to look after your staff. If you haven't got staff, you haven't got a business. It's as simple as that."

Mental health is the second biggest cause of sickness absence at work, costing businesses an estimated £26 billion a year, yet awareness and understanding of mental health problems are extremely poor and most senior managers do not believe mental health problems affect their workforce.

Paul Farmer, chief executive officer of Mind, said: "Considering how much time we spend at work, it is hardly surprising that it can have a huge impact on our mental wellbeing. A bad work environment can be damaging and can trigger a wide range of problems from exhaustion to depression, while having a good working life is proven to be an asset for our overall mental health.

"Employers and employees have a responsibility to recognise that mental health is an issue in every workforce and make sure they are doing what they can to promote a healthy workplace."