May 14, 2007...7:14 am
1 in 5 of the UK is on anti depressants?
I was interested to hear that around (*corrected*)31 million prescriptions were issued last year for antidepressants, I’ve read that that could break down to 1 in 5 of the population are felt to be in need of the normalisation effects of mood altering drugs. It’s no doubt an indication of the sorry state of Britain’s mental health services and the low possibility of access to help other than anti depressants. Around 50,000 children, some as young as six are also on some kind of anti depressant. Recently approval was given regarding an anti depressant for dogs.
Depression is now the most serious illness that our doctors face and costs the UK £8billion a year in medication, benefits and lost working days.
Symptoms for depression are often varied which makes it a condition that is hard to diagnose but it is thought that some people may actually be prone to depression due to certain life experiences, body chemistry or inherited genetic conditions.
One of the most well known anti depressants is Prozac, a drug which is thought to stimulate the growth of brain cells in an area of the brain called the dentate gyrus (stress is thought to destroy some brain cells). It’s usage is now so common that traces of the drug can now be found in most drinking water with further traces now building in rivers and groundwater.
Mental health problems still seem to be something that people either don’t want to admit to or conversely if someone has not experienced depression then may not consider it a serious and debilitating illness and choose to assign a “snap out of it” attitude towards.
As someone who has and still does deal with their own depression and anxiety I have a fair amount of personal insight into the various aspects of living with the condition. For me anti depressants did not help and in the case of Prozac significantly made the condition worse and my own experience of the talking therapies was not an especially good one. I do have a certain amount of sympathy with the view that the rise in depression and anxiety levels is directly linked to the difficulties of living in the world today and a natural response for some to not being able to fit so easily into that world and its expectations of work, relationships , living conditions and everyday experiences. If anti depressants work for someone then great but many of us have found that we’ve had to take a bit more control of our lives in order to help ease the effects of putting ourselves in certain work and life situations. That’s not an easy thing to achieve as many of us can feel a considerable lack of control over much of our own lives.
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Half of the UK is on anti depressants « Stuffem-Up the hill backwards
2 Comments
May 14, 2007 at 2:08 pm
31 million people? Not quite. There were 31 million prescriptions last year, which isn’t nearly the same thing. (For example, in the last six months I’ve had three prescriptions for two different antidepressants, but only count as one person.) Best guess seems to be several million people take antidepressants in any given year.
Of course, that’s still a lot of people, but a long way from half the country.
The reason for the high numbers is almost certainly the lack of funding for mental health services. I get the feeling that a lot of GP’s would be happier referring for alternatives to medication, but are often unable to. Some practices offer short-term counselling, but this is far from universal and counselling isn’t likely to be effective for more serious depression. In many places the waiting lists for the recommended, evidence-based therapies (like cognitive behaviour therapy) run to six months and can be more than a year. With waiting lists like that it’s hardly surprising that GP’s turn to the only thing they can do which doesn’t involve their patient waiting for ridiculous amounts of time.
May 14, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Hello experimental chimp
you’re right about that I misheard the figures on the radio this morning and can only claim lack of chocolate for my own sloppy misinterpretation. On second look it is 13 million prescriptions though I have read another report which translates that into 1 in 5 people. I certainly agree that mental health services are another area of treatment that faces financial restrictions, postcode lottery and variable effectiveness of available treatment. When I had counseling I had to go private as there was no provision for NHS referral at that time though I believe there now is a limited provision but with an eligibility criteria and long waiting times with a strict limit on how many visits the funding would allow are in place. As we now have a significant number of people on incapacity benefit due to mental illness and depression it’s going to be hard to get some people back into work if there is no complimentary treatment of the underlying condition available.
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