One in eight people taking antidepressants as pandemic blues linger

One in eight people in England are taking antidepressants after the pandemic fuelled demand for medication, NHS statistics show.

Charities said the official figures were an “alarming” sign of an escalating crisis, with the numbers taking the pills rising by more than half a million in one year.

The statistics show a record 8.3 million people being prescribed the drugs, of whom two thirds are female.

It comes after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said in November that people suffering mild depression should be offered a choice of exercise or therapy instead of being put on pills.

The body recommended group classes in areas such as meditation or behavioural therapy, or opting for individual counselling sessions.

Last year Prof Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, said doctors were too often offering “a pill for every ill’’, warning that over-prescribing was costing the NHS “millions”.

The new statistics released by the NHS Business Services Authority show that since 2015/6, the total number of people on antidepressants has risen by 22 per cent.

Olly Parker, head of external affairs at charity YoungMinds, said: “These figures are yet another alarming sign of the crisis in mental health services for young people. Record numbers are trying to access support and very often find the options are limited.”

Mr Parker said medication could play an important role but “should never be a substitute for talking therapies such as counselling”.

“Long waiting times and high thresholds for treatment may mean that GPs feel under pressure to prescribe medication, but it shouldn’t be used as a sticking plaster for poor access to other forms of support,” he said.

Alexa Knight, associate director for policy and practice at Rethink Mental Illness, said the fallout from the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis were adding to pressures on mental health. But she said the rising numbers taking medication “could also be a welcome indicator that people feel more comfortable seeking support when they need it”.

She said patients should be offered a choice of treatments, including talking therapies.

In the year 2020/21 8.32 million were prescribed antidepressants - up 540,000 in one year, the statistics show. Among them were 71,000 children and young people aged 17 and under - where prescribing rose by nine per cent in a year.

Of those, almost 12,000 were aged between 10 and 14, while 780 were below the age of 10.

Lockdown exacerbated mental health

Last year a survey by mental health charity Mind found that two thirds of adults said their mental health had worsened since the first national lockdown.

One quarter of those polled said they had experienced mental distress for the first time during the pandemic.

Stephen Buckley, head of information at Mind, said that “while antidepressants are effective for many, they are not always suitable for everyone and can cause a number of unpleasant side effects so it’s vital GPs offer a range of potential options. For most people, it’s a combination of medication and other treatments that help best manage their mental health, which may include talking therapies, exercise and other alternative therapies.”

The figures show the NHS spent a total of £247 million on antidepressants in 2021/22.

The new data show that women were around twice as likely to be prescribed antidepressants as men, with 5.5 million women prescribed the drugs in 2021/22 compared with 2.8 million men.

Mr Buckley said that a successful plan for this crisis “must also address and tackle the many social inequalities that affect our mental health”, with separate research suggesting that women saw larger rises in psychological distress than men during the pandemic.

Studies show women were more likely than men to have gained weight since the first lockdown, with researchers saying many women took on more of the stresses of home schooling.

Last year the Department of Health released plans to tackle an overall rise in pill consumption, by tackling “overprescribing”.

Officials warned of “a paternalistic tendency” for health professionals to “treat the illness not the person”.