For some people it's the gym; others prefer a few drinks down the pub, while our Prime Minister is partial to a game of Fruit Ninja on the iPad. Most of us have a way to unwind after a hard day at work. But for a significant minority this day-to-day stress can morph into something more insurmountable.

If the legal profession follows the population-wide trend of about one in four people in the UK suffering from issues including stress and anxiety annually, of the 92,000 lawyers at law firms across England and Wales, some 23,000 could be expected to be affected each year. This is no small problem for law firms and their staff.

And as our feature shows, the advent of the downturn has only made the job more stressful, with more than two thirds of respondents to a recent Legal Week survey saying pressure to perform and less job security is making life as a lawyer ever-more stressful.

In addition, more than three quarters of respondents to the same survey said their firm is unsympathetic to issues such as depression – and the results suggest clients are similarly uncompassionate.

Nor are lawyers convinced that their firms have taken sufficient measures to combat stress-related problems, with almost a third saying their firm had made no effort to help out in this regard.

And while law firms offer services ranging from counselling and GPs to gyms and music lessons, this has not stopped several high-profile incidents of things going badly wrong for stressed-out lawyers.

The stigma of mental health issues is well acknowledged, with research by charities such as Mind and Rethink Mental Health finding that the resulting social exclusion and workplace discrimination are often harder for the individual to deal with than the illness itself.

There is little getting away from the fact that commercial law is a demanding profession. But let's not kid ourselves that money alone is sufficient recompense for the hours lawyers work. It behoves law firms – as with any other employer – to take responsibility for their staff's wellbeing, both mental and physical. 

I am not saying this is a straightforward task, but, in common with other 'softer' issues such as gender and diversity, it is too easy to deem mental health as an issue for HR to deal with.

But to have any real impact on the issue it requires a change of attitudes at all levels. And with the downturn still rumbling on, there is no time like the present.