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Thursday, November 8, 2007

400% increase in antidepressant prescriptions in Scotland


For every 1,000 people in Scotland there were 85 daily doses of antidepressants dispensed in 2006, compared with 19 doses in 1992.
In this article of BBC News the following arguments are mentioned for this raise:
1. the newer antidepressants are better tolerated
2. antidepressants are inappropriately prescribed by primary care physicians due to lack of sufficient time to diagnose properly
3. prescription as a cry for help with increasing social problems
4. growth in prescriptions suggesting an increase in the amount of psychiatric illness which has also been connected to increases in the levels of social deprivation.


Dr Shock's opinion:
All these arguments are correct instead of arguing they should combine forces and get to work. Depression might be over diagnosed as in the rest of the world, SSRIs to quickly prescribed, primary care physician's overworked and social problems increasing.

Prescriptions issued in Scotland for anti-depressants have risen more than four-fold in less than 15 years, an NHS report has revealed.


About the NHS
NHS QIS is a special health board. This means that although we don’t treat patients or manage health services directly, we work with organisations that do, to help them improve the care they deliver.

We work with members of the public, patients and healthcare staff, and our role is to translate the latest scientific research, expert opinion and patient experience into practical improvements that can be implemented in the health service.



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