Anti-depressant use sky rockets

General Practitioners have called on the Government to increase the funding for psychotherapist services to rely less on these drugs as more people seek help for mental health problems.

Figures show that antidepressant prescriptions in north Lincolnshire clinical commissioning group (CCG) went up by 25 percent from 2014-15 to 2017-18, the latest period with updated data. Over that period, the number of registered patients in the area hardly varied, rising by two percent.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said this trend should not be automatically seen as a bad thing and anti-depressants were of proven benefit for may but added: 'Antidepressants are of proven benefit for many patients, but no patient wants to be reliant on any medication long-term, and where possible we will explore alternatives, such as talking therapies.'