A quarter of all adults in Scotland are now being prescribed antidepressant drugs as the country is gripped by an unprecedented ‘epidemic’ in mental health problems.
The number of people taking the pills also rose last year at an alarming rate, with more than 50 new patient cases prescribed every single day.
The SNP pledged to halt the annual increases when it came to power in 2007. However, numbers have instead rocketed, reaching more than 600,000 by 2010.
It can now be revealed that the number of people aged 18 and over prescribed such medicines reached 1,040,000 last month, a figure which represents more than 23 per cent of the adult population.
Meanwhile, adding in the number of people now being prescribed drugs from one of five groupings broadly associated with mental health, the staggering figure rises to a third of all adults.
There has been a huge rise in the number of antidepressant drugs prescribed by GPs
This includes almost 200,000 adults being given benzodiazepnies, around the same number given gabapentinoids, 825,000 given opiod pain medications and 125,000 given medication known as z-drugs, which includes drugs such as zopiclone and zolpidem. The drugs are used to treat conditions including anxiety, depression and sleep disorders.
The figures, obtained by this newspaper from Public Health Scotland, relate to a snapshot day last month and exclude cancer patients.
Medical opinion, even among psychiatrists, remains divided on the use of such drugs, with many backing their effectiveness.
However, Dr David Healy, a professor of psychiatry, and one of the world’s leading experts on the effects of antidepressants, said: ‘As can be seen, the figures for antidepressant use have been increasing even more rapidly than before, with more people being put on them. These are mainly younger people, and we are seeing results, in some cases, in increased disability benefit claims.
‘Far from making the population healthier, these drugs are making us sicker not just because of the effects of the drugs but because, to get them, we have to be given a medical condition, and this giving may be harmful in its own right.’
Nick Ward, chief executive of Scottish charity Change Mental Health, said: ‘For decades, we have been told that antidepressants are the answer to depression and mental health challenges, but they aren’t.
CASE STUDY: ‘I wonder if and when I can come off pills’
Olivia started taking antidepressants after feeling anxious about modern life. Picture posed by model
Olivia said she began to feel ‘overwhelmed’ a few years ago.
The 27-year-old from Edinburgh said: ‘From talking to friends, I knew I wasn’t alone. Many of my friends felt the same. Your head swirls round with stress and at times there’s a tight feeling in your chest like it’s difficult to breathe.
‘It’s stress piling on top of stress. Then it starts to have an effect on your sleep and things spiral out of control. I would wake up panicking. I went to see my GP as friends told me they had done the same and it had helped. He was sympathetic and talked through various options, such as exercise or therapy.
‘He mentioned medication and said that was a common thing for him to prescribe nowadays.’
Olivia added: ‘Initially I was reluctant but something needed to change. He talked me through the effects, and also the side effects, which he warned could be unpleasant. But things had got to the stage where I needed to do something.
‘I figured that anything to try to get back on top of things was worth it. The doctor had no hesitation in prescribing antidepressants and that’s something I think about now.
‘That was several years ago. While I haven’t regretted it, I now wonder if and when I will safely come off the pills.
‘Modern life is stressful. Social media never stops. People are in contact with each other in real time, all the time.’
Olivia has now started therapy and peer support. ‘It has changed how I look at things and helped get everything in perspective a lot better,’ she said. ‘I still take the medication but I don’t want to take it forever.
‘Peer support has helped me realise I am not alone and many people have had, and are having, a similar experience to me.’
‘We have overly relied on a medical model of mental health, viewing problems as an illness that, just like an infection, the right drugs can cure. For the majority of people, this isn’t true.
‘We know that what causes mental health issues are generally bad things that have happened or are happening in our lives.
‘Antidepressants are cheap and plentiful and have been readily promoted by big drugs companies. They give time-stretched GPs a solution.
‘The real “solutions” are complex and expensive, and involve providing people with therapy so they can talk to someone, supporting someone to feel part of their community, and helping people rediscover the “real” them.’
Meanwhile, Dr Jane Morris, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland said: ‘Antidepressants are an important treatment option that we know to be effective.
‘We would like to think public education and awareness of the treatability of mental illness means that more people are coming forward.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane says there is a mental health epidemic on the SNP’s watch
‘But we would not be surprised to find that the increased prescribing may now reflect a rise in Scotland’s need for mental health treatment, both in medication and psychological therapies.
‘Waiting lists for assessment and treatment are longer than ever. We also have a workforce crisis in psychiatry and that’s why we’re calling on the Scottish Government to honour its promise to invest 10% of its health budget in mental health.’
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, who is also a GP, said: ‘There is a mental health epidemic on the SNP’s watch and they still don’t have a plan to address it.
‘The combination of long waiting times for counselling and an unacceptable lack of community services often leaves health professionals with little choice other than to prescribe antidepressants, despite the SNP’s pledge to halt increases in usage.
‘Common sense dictates that mental health should a top priority for the SNP, but they have shamefully cut nearly £20 million from the budget.
‘It is time for the Health Minister to back our bold vision to address this crisis, which includes spending 10% of the health budget on mental health.’
Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd said: ‘People feel more able to come forward and talk about their mental health which is a welcome sign that stigma is decreasing – the latest data shows.
‘Decisions about the appropriateness of antidepressants are made by clinicians in discussion with the individual about what matters to them, and with reference to their medical history.’