Antidepressant Use up 400% in America

Harvard Health: Antidepressant Use up 400% in America | Intellectual Takeout
It’s no secret that a lot of Americans are taking anti-depression medication. The uptick has been so high, though, that it is raising eyebrows and questions about what’s causing it and whether or not the medicine is helping.

Over at Harvard Health, the publication reports that,

“According to a report released yesterday by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the rate of antidepressant use in this country among teens and adults (people ages 12 and older) increased by almost 400% between 1988–1994 and 2005–2008.”  

Harvard Health also notes,

“Here are a few other stand-out statistics from the report on antidepressants:

• 23% of women in their 40s and 50s take antidepressants, a higher percentage than any other group (by age or sex)
• Women are 2½ times more likely to be taking an antidepressant than men (click here to read a May 2011 article in the Harvard Mental Health Letter about women and depression)
• 14% of non-Hispanic white people take antidepressants compared with just 4% of non-Hispanic blacks and 3% of Mexican Americans
• Less than a third of Americans who are taking a single antidepressants (as opposed to two or more) have seen a mental health professional in the past year
• Antidepressant use does not vary by income status.”

The publication then goes on to state that some will argue that the incredible uptick in anti-depressant use is the result of under-treatment of depression, while others argue that the pharmaceutical industry is “responsible for the surge in prescriptions...”