Nation hooked on happy pills – record 92 million handed antidepressant | UK | News

The UK is dependent on antidepressants than ever before – recipes that have risen to record levels since Covid pandem.

Official NHS data were given approximately 92.6 million recipes covering about nine million patients in England last year – an increase of 15% since 2020 years before the pandemic stroke.

Experts say that a nation that still fights with mental health sprinkling and related locks, the cost of living, crisis and NHS accumulations.

Health chiefs acknowledge that “silent epidemic olmayan does not show signs of slowdown, because now the number of people who have been found to need drugs has increased by about 40% in just eight years.

The figures follow a new major analysis in Lancet that shows that drugs are ineffective for people with less severe depression forms.

The analysis by the addictive treatment group UKAT shows that women stay much more than men to prescribe antidepressant and constitute two -thirds of all users.

And since Covid, the largest jumps have increased by almost a quarter of the prescription in people in their 30s and 60s.

Daniel Gerrard, CEO of UKAT, said: “After acceptance, mental health shock does not fade. In fact, more people were more than ever -on antidepressants – and the rise for some groups was dramatic.”

Children are increasingly among the people who get the pill. NHS data also shows that the number of children prescribed between 2023/24 increased by 9.9 percent and reached 120,000. Experts warn that the real figure may be even higher after being counted. Doctors say this reflects the increasing mental health crisis among children and the gaps of current support. The increase is against a ground of increasing demand for children’s mental health services. NHS data shows that anxiety and mental health support for under the age of 18 have increased more than two floors before Covid and increased from 99,000 to 204,000 at 2023/24 in 2019/20.

Research shows that only one quarter of children and young people who are given antidepressants were first seen by a child and adolescent psychiatrist – despite national instructions.

Experts, antidepressants can be a life -saving for people with severe depression, he says. However, studies show that they usually do little in mild depression cases where they cannot perform better than a puppet drug. Recently – 676 ​​high -quality antidepressant trials, which were recently published in Lancet, have shown that drugs are ineffective for lighter depression forms.

Side effects are common and may include weight gain, insomnia, sexual problems and emotional “dull”. Exit them, symptoms such as influenza, nausea, mood changes, and sometimes weeks or months of suicide thoughts can trigger signs of deprivation.

Professor Carl Henghan, Director of Oxford University, Medical Center, said, “Even if these drugs are limited or not for mild depression, a large number of people have been medical and consequently receive antidepressants.

“Now, especially in cases where the damages are more outweighed than the benefits, there is a need for a coordinated effort to store these drugs in the community.

Southwest London, Professor James Davies, a psychology expert at the University of Roehmpton, said, “The vairing prescription does not improve the country’s mental health. In fact, in many respects, there is a compelling evidence that the facts that may worse at the population level due to increasing damages and unnecessary use.

“We need to get away from our trust in drugs for more effective psychological and social services.”

Government Drug Organizer National Institute of Clinical Attitude – Nice – Guidelines, in mild cases, speech therapies before drugs, lifestyle changes and social support be presented before medication.

A NHS spokesman said: “In the last few years, events in the country had a negative impact on the mental health of the country, and NHS now treats the Amylli man before the pandem, and supports children who will extend to all children in the next five years.

“Antidepressants should be taken with other support services such as NHS Talking therapies, which now see more than 1.2 million people a year. If you are worried about your mental health, please talk to your GP application or you can reference on self -speech therapies.”

And the spokesman of the Ministry of Health and Social Care, said: “This government inherited a broken NHS and mental health services that suffered from negligence for years.

“We convert mental health services to an extra 688 million £, we hire 8,500 extra mental health employees, offer more speech therapy and provide better access to help through NHS application.

He continued: “In 2025-26, we expand the presentation of mental health support teams in schools to cover up to one million students and all schools in the UK can reach mental health support until 2030.”