The Today Show highlights the increasing use of anti-depressants across the UK

This morning’s Today Show included a piece on the increasing use of anti-depressants in the United Kingdom.

The piece (starting 50 minutes into the programme and lasting 4 minutes) highlighted that we have now prescribed over 50 million anti-depressants in the United Kingdom.

Particularly interesting facts that the show discussed included:

• 1 in 6 adults in the UK pick up an anti-depressant prescription each month 
• This ratio increases to 1 in 5 in Wales 
• Patients are often given no alternative (e.g. talking therapies) 
• Patients are seen to be 'making do' with the cheapest treatment rather than the best 

A GP highlighted the fact that the waiting list for talking therapies provided by the NHS is often far too long (frequently 6 months) and this sways the patient into using antidepressants.

It seems that local mental health charities, such as Mind, are picking up the slack and allowing individuals access to talking therapies - but in some areas this service is over capacity already.