Janet Wojtkow (November 12) claims that most anxiety nowadays is due to global warming and not the lack of affluence (poverty).

Global warming may be of some concern for people who occasionally think about the future’s unknown (might turn out to be a boon for air-conditioning companies) but I have never encountered any evidence of global warming causing mass anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts in industrialised countries.

A recent UK survey claims one in five teenage girls are depressed because they think they are not physically attractive enough.

There is ample evidence that the poor have higher anxiety levels than the affluent because they worry about making ends meet and how to feed their family. Furthermore, we have evidence that the poor tend to suffer more morbidity, mortality and a lower life span than the affluent.

The much-vaunted Mediterranean diet has also recently been found to benefit the health and longevity of the well-off and not the poor.

Male suicide rates spike during recessions – anxiety and depression about workplace problems, unemployment and bankruptcy are all important factors in these circumstances.

Ask economic migrants whether they are worried about global warming or the lack of a living wage.

Global warming causing mass psychiatric problems in affluent countries is a red-herring, if not a joke.