Antidepressant prescriptions rise in England

The Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation has warned that many people in England are being over-prescribed antidepressants.

The annual prescription rate for antidepressants has increased to 8.5% since 2008, with the credit crunch thought to be one of the reasons for this increase. In 2012 GPs prescribed 2.7 million antidepressants more than during the pre-2008 period when the economy was strong.

As the number of people being diagnosed with depression has increased at a slower rate, the conclusion is that many people are taking too many antidepressants for too long.

The combination of poverty and unemployment can have serious implications for long-term mental health.

Adam Roberts, the Nuffield Trust’s senior research analyst, explained: “Our research shows stark variation in antidepressant prescription rates between regions, ethnicities and age groups. While some variation is to be expected, the differences between regions suggest that there could be particular underlying problems in mental health for people in areas suffering from unemployment and poor housing. What we don’t know from the research is what level of prescribing is objectively the ‘right’ level.”

Mr Roberts went on to point out that the increase in prescriptions in relation to the incidence of depression indicates that either we were prescribing too few antidepressants in 1998 or that we are dispensing too many now.

We usually hear about prescription drug abuse being driven by patients; however, it seems that doctors are being very quick to prescribe antidepressants and little is being done to help patients to come off them.