Intended for healthcare professionals

Editor's Choice

Don’t keep taking the tablets

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f7438 (Published 11 December 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f7438
  1. Fiona Godlee, editor, BMJ
  1. fgodlee{at}bmj.com

The world’s rich nations have doubled their use of antidepressants in the past 10 years, according to the OECD’s annual health report (doi:10.1136/bmj.f7261). Based on estimates of the number of people receiving the average daily maintenance dose for major depression, Iceland has the highest consumption and Korea the lowest. The UK comes in somewhere in the middle. The report says the rise is due to the increased intensity and duration of drug treatment as well as the extension of treatment to milder forms of depression, anxiety, and social phobias.

The trend may come as no surprise to those who …

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