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Curb antidepressant prescribing to improve mental health, say campaigners

BMJ 2023; 383 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2873 (Published 05 December 2023) Cite this as: BMJ 2023;383:p2873

Linked Letter

Politicians, experts, and patient representatives call for the UK government to reverse the rate of antidepressant prescribing

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Re: Curb antidepressant prescribing to improve mental health, say campaigners

Dear Editor

I have looked after patients suffering from depression and suffered bouts of clinical depression and anxiety myself and I can report that I found limited efficacy in taking the various anti-depressants: generally change in my circumstances have been the engine for improvement. I also managed to make myself extremely ill by giving up anti-depressants without medical assistance, so I support the essence of this letter.

You point out that housing problems, insecure work and poor diet can contribute to the mental pain of depression and you clearly realise that the millions of pills given out are not helping people who struggle. If you stop giving out pills you must have a ready offer to replace them as the structural change required is not going to happen without a change of government at the very least. A walk in the woods or a knitting group may well help some but inner city dwellers, single people suffering from social isolation or those busy with life and work will not be thanking a GP who suggests a social group without helping someone contact them, or give them the spare time necessary for outdoor pursuits. Leaving a surgery empty handed, with platitudes ringing in your ears from comfortably off general practitioners (who are also very difficult to access) will not help.

If we acknowledge that antidepressants are not the answer, GP services are over-stretched and difficult to access what is your response? I have been a Labour supporter all my life and a socialist too and I know that some senior medical staff are also social democrats who want to see real change, but all too often medics (who are renowned to have had their mouths stuffed with gold to enact the NHS) are not leaders in societal change. If you want to give up your pharmacological remedy you need to do more than write letters.

Competing interests: No competing interests

05 December 2023
Joanne Columbine
Retired
Ex-RGN
Bury