How many on Anti-depressants?

This article about anti-depressant drug use was originally post in June this year (follow the link above).

According to the article, there are now some 36 Million prescriptions issued each year for anti-depressants in the UK. That number is up 2.1 million since the last numbers were released in 2007.

Clearly something is very wrong here. 36 million is basically one prescription per adult in the UK population. Either there are a huge number of very depressed people in the UK (always a possibility) or the drugs are being used a universal panacea for the ills of modern life.

I wonder if some of the those people simply have unrealistic expectations about what they may achieve and the clash of the actual and desired outcomes prompts a rush to the GP. (I'm not trying to limit life expectations, merely recognising that not everyone will do what is required to get the glitzy lifestyle.) Contrast the glitz, gloss and glamour of TV lifestyles with your own life and the difference may be too much to bear.

GPs are used to dealing with drugs and relatively speaking, drugs are cheap. Three months of Prozac will be less than 3 months of talking therapy, not really more effective, but cheaper.

The only people gaining with this approach are the shareholders of the drug companies; the people (I hesitate to call them patients) may get some relief but their situation is unchanged, the Doctor may know that the issue is a bad marriage or poor life choices but be left with few alternatives and the we as the shareholders of the NHS pay the bill.

What a waste; a waste of potential, a waste of money, a waste of lives.

Surely it's time to change. Surely we should hold back on the pills and start prescriptions for seeing a therapist or a life coach. How about a prescription to eat a diet that is actually healthy and contains the natural minerals, vitamins and oils that we need to function effectively.

I have no idea where this should start but perhaps one small change might be to promote the idea of non-drug based treatments to Doctors whilst they are still in training. It would be a long task to changing the current situation but it could start one Doctor at a time.

It's also possible that perhaps Doctors should not be expected to have the answers to life problems. We need a new way to deal with life problems for those who choose not to pray or have a religion. A Humanist approach to living a positive life?

Who knows? What is certain is that the status quo will result in all of us being on the drugs and that just can't be right.