“One in six of the population is on antidepressants, and the numbers are rising. Are GPs being too ‘trigger-happy’ with prescriptions?”
Reporting for The Telegraph, Miranda Levy writes:
“As Britain slowly unlocks, we are emerging blinking into the sunlight. But nine weeks of social distancing and self-isolating has left its mark. New evidence is starting to show that ‘mental illness’ — however you wish to define that — is on the rise. And, with Mental Health Awareness Week starting today (18th May), this issue is increasingly relevant.
According to The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMP), there has been a ten to 15 per cent rise in antidepressant prescriptions across the country. The AIMP has also heard of struggles from pharmacies to meet the increase in demand. “Around the beginning of March, doctors were issuing more three-month prescriptions than before,” says Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of AIMP. This echoes a world-wide trend: in medi-happy America, anti-anxiety scripts have risen by a third; antidepressants by a fifth …”
You can read more from here.
