The number of unemployed people claiming incapacity benefits for stress has increased by 800 per cent in just over a decade.

Nearly 52,000 claimants now receive around £122 million each year for stress-related illnesses which they claim leaves them unable to work, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The figure has increased from 5,700 in 1997 when Labour came to power, although Government officials insist the rise is due to a growing awareness of the mental illness and its symptoms. To claim benefits for stress, claimants must prove they have had a "reaction to severe stress" and undergo a medical examination.
Around 2.7 million people claim a total of £12 billion sickness benefits in Britain today, one of the highest proportions in Europe.

Conservative shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling said the Government had to take action. "We need a firm but fair approach that gets them back into work," he said.
Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers Alliance, accused the Government of allowing people to malinger at the taxpayers' expense and called for doctors to be appointed specifically to assess benefits claims.
"It's no good for taxpayers, the wider economy or these individuals for tens of thousands of people to be put on the scrapheap when they could be helped back to work," he said.
"What you have to ask is, why have the numbers of people with stress gone up? Are people's lives now more stressful? It is difficult to see why they should be."

Stress benefits claimants boom under Labour - Telegraph

Although there may be some truth in saying stress is being treated more seriously and the symptoms are better known i would still say this is no way explains an 800% increase in claims.
It would appear yet again it is far too easy to claim benefits and live off the state under this Government , a smaller and smaller percentage of workers are meant to work harder for longer and be taxed more to fund those that play the system.... some serious reforms and changes are much needed , a change of Government being the most obvious.