One in ten Scots taking antidepressants

The shocking statistics represent a rise on last year and a huge increase in the last decade – despite a government drive to find alternative remedies.

The number of antidepressants prescribed has more than tripled in the past 15 years, according to NHS Scotland statistics on medicines used in mental health. It has grown from 1.16 million items to 3.83 million between 1992-93 and 2007-8.

Also, an increasing amount (40 million last year) is now spent on the drugs every year, even though costs are falling.

According to yesterday's statistics, 9.3 per cent of the Scottish population aged 15 and over use an antidepressant drug every day. This is up from 8.8 per cent last year.

There was also a big growth in the prescribing of drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), increasing by 12.3 per cent between 2006-7 and 2007-8, up from 59,461 to 66,756.

A huge increase in the number of people seeking help for depression, combined with a shortage of alternative therapies, has been blamed for the massive increase in the issuing of drugs such as Prozac.

But the steady rise in the number of prescriptions for anti- depressants had already prompted government action. Two years ago, ministers launched a campaign to offer alternative treatments in an attempt to limit, and eventually to reverse, the trend.

Yesterday's figures, however, suggest this has not worked and the situation is getting worse.

"The high numbers of Scots making daily use of antidepressants is cause for serious concern," said Jamie Stone, the Liberal Democrats' public health spokesman. "The health secretary must ensure that in Scotland antidepressants are not allowed to become a quick fix for depression.

"I hope that these figures prompt health professionals to look at viable alternatives to antidepressants. We should be trying to help people through the rough periods in their lives without relying on tablets.

"We must not allow Scotland to turn into a Prozac nation."

Mary Scanlon, for the Tories, added: "When the SNP came to power they set a government target binding themselves to reduce the annual rate of increase of antidepressants to zero by 2009-10.

"The sad truth is that rather than reducing the annual rate of increase there has been a rise from 3.6 per cent in 2006-7 to 4.7 per cent in 2007-8."

Experts insist, however, that the rise in the prescribing of antidepressants is a result of people seeking help from their doctor, rather than suffering in silence.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said recently that a lack of alternative treatments was also driving the trend to more prescriptions.

He said: "Even where GPs do not want to prescribe anti- depressants they are forced to reach for the prescription pad because there may be long waits for therapies such as counselling."

Shona Robison, minister for public health, said work had been done to employ more psychologists and mental health staff, which would help ease the prescribing of antidepressants but the drugs were appropriate in many cases.

She said: "Our prime concern is that people get the right medical treatment for their condition and antidepressant drugs are an evidence-based treatment that is appropriate in many cases."

BACKGROUND

IN 2005, the House of Commons health committee accused drug companies of fostering a pill-popping culture under which medicines were used to resolve every problem, but especially mild depression.

In a report, the MPs said the pharmaceutical industry was acting as a "disease-monger", classing as many people as possible as "abnormal" and therefore in need of drugs.

"This process has led to an unhealthy over-reliance on, and over-use of, medicines. It also diverts resources and priorities from more significant diseases and health problems," the committee said.

A great deal of this was because patients complaining of mild depression were increasingly being prescribed anti-depressants, rather than being made aware that "unhappiness is part of the spectrum of human experience, not a medical condition".

The MPs said: "Inappropriate prescription of medicines by GPs is of particular concern."

Some doctors had prescribed antidepressants on a grand scale. Links were made to high rates of suicide.