Gray, White and Russell draw attention to the rise in antidepressant prescriptions in the past decade, when discussing medicalisation in the UK.1 However, in that time, there has been an explosion in the use of antidepressants for pain relief (especially Amitriptyline), so the assumption that this increase reflects a wish by clinicians to avoid psychological therapies for depression may be unfounded.
It would be interesting to see what the figures show if the use of antidepressants outside of mental health were first subtracted.
Footnotes
Declarations
References
1.
GrayDWhiteERussellG. Medicalisation in the UK: changing dynamics, but still ongoing. J R Soc Med2016; 109: 7–11.
