To be shocked the amount of people on antidepressants?

[Hotfuninthesummertime]

I know I'm unreasonable as I've been on them for years. However i work in a very close team and am aware of 10 out of 15 of us being on anti depressants for various reasons or life stressor. I was shocked so many people are being treated but it's so common! Is it more recognised now ? Or overtreated ?

There are many uses for anti depressants though? I've been on two but not for mental health.

I also know alot of mums on antidepressants

Well your experience with work colleagues and mum friends certainly indicates that the stigma surrounding mental health issues is reducing!

I think it’s important to take them if you need them. I have chosen talking therapy, life changes and reframing.
I also believe it’s part of the human condition to be miserable, sad, despairing often. Not sure why our culture would expect to be ‘happy’ all of the time. Or even okay. We are designed to feel all of our emotions.

BUT if it makes you feel happier, and they're not doing any harm (do they?), then why not I suppose.

I guess the harm is that if they are only needed to get someone through a particularly difficult time in their life they are difficult to come off and they can become long term medication. There are also side effects which can require other medications and it becomes a vicious cycle of pills.

A lot of people aren’t on them for depression and many use them for conditions that don’t even relate to mental health eg they are typically prescribed for chronic pain, incontinence, IBS, sleep disorders etc. So when you take into account the significant number of the population that do need mental health support, is it really that surprising?

I don't know for certain of anyone in my circle who takes them, but then again, it's not the kind of thing we would be likely to discuss. Judging on what I do know about them, at least one or two are likely are taking antidepressants.

It's not something I've ever thought much about, but now I'm curious how I'd feel on them. Would they make me feel happier, or make no difference at all? I feel okay without them, fortunately, not jumping around with the boundless joy of youth, but satisfied. I have worries and things that bother me from time to time, but nothing that makes me feel that I might actually be depressed. If I have a down day or two, I usually know exactly what's bothering me or that I'm just going through a moody/hormonal period, and it eventually improves on its own. It's easy to take that for granted...

Indeed, as a society we need to look at why this is. I suspect spinning too many plates, juggling parenthood, working and perhaps caring responsibilities with less and less support on top of the current relentless financial pressures have a very big part to play.

Old stats from about 10 years ago indicated that 48% of people prescribed anti D did not meet diagnostic criteria for depression, any of the classifications.
They are very useful for managing low level anxiety, lower back pain and general situational crisis.
We also live in a spiciest were the term depression is widely overused and widely misused but not enough time for clinicians to dig deeper. So a px is the easy answer for many.
Very few people are treatment resistant those that say they are are generally not actually depressed.
Sadly they are the Valium of the 60’s for many but a lifesaver for many others as well.

I've been on and off ads for over 20 years. I finally have felt relief since being diagnosed and treated for ADHD...

There are a lot of people mentally unwell & struggling out there. I see it in my work. It’s getting worse & is really alarming.

@SunbathingDragon My DM was offered them as a solution to bladder problems and incontinence she was horrified.

I was diagnosed with mild depression by my GP based on my score on the standard questionnaire the NHS uses. I was appalled to be honest as I’m not depressed, I just have insomnia and resulting concentration difficulties. I think Previous posters are correct that at least some of this could be misdiagnosis where there is an alternative biological cause that should be treated,.

I'd love to see some data on this.

A LOT of people have confided in me that they take them. Half the women in my street, mums from school etc.

I think life has become so demanding that people need them to cope. This is how I feel anyway (been on sertraline 10 yrs)

Way over treated and a lot of people (me included) have been prescribed them for years and they aren’t a long term fix but no other help out there. They should only be used for 2 years. I stopped taking them 3 years ago after being on them for 20 years

I think pps are right that sometimes low mood can be caused by nutritional defieciencies which never seems to be investigated first.

I also think that there are many, many adults out there who are undiagnosed autistic and ADHD and are struggling to cope with life as it's developed at a faster pace.

I suspect that the anxiety and depression I’ve struggled with for years is actually undiagnosed ADHD. However when I broached this with my doctor, I got ‘a write a letter and I’ll see if you qualify but the current wait list is 4+ years’ comment before she upped my AD dose. It’s clearly easier to just load people with AD.

I was put on anti depressants for grief.
It was extremely difficult to come off them. Each time I tried, and I tapered it very slowly, it made me feel suicidal. I eventually on the third go decided I had to just put up with feeling suicidal for a bit if I did not want to take them for life. After a month I started to feel better.
I would never take anti depressants again. I know a number of people who have taken them for decades and after my experience, I understand why.

Over treated.

I went to GP for an appointment for my daughter for a CAMHS re-referral and ADHD assessment referral.

First thing she said was to suggest me gojng on sertraline.

I take them (not for depression) and they've changed my life for the better.

To my knowledge she can't do this, you can request for an assessment on the strength of your own observations, you can also choose a different provider with shorter waiting lists under NHS right to choose. I believe Psychiatry UK wait lists about 6 months.

adhduk.co.uk/right-to-choose/

Something is definitely wrong in our greater society if 1 in 5 are on them (if this statistic is correct). Not sure what or how we can change it either. I am personally not on them but know quite a few who are.

I think GPs are much too keen to put patients on anti-Ds.

My DH died in April, and I'd been having a huge struggle trying to sleep. I did their nonsense EForm, and after 12 days my GP phoned.

She hadn't actually read the form, because she asked what the problem was..🙄

I explained and she said she'd send some sleeping tablets (all good), but then she said she'd send some anti D's and said that counselling might help, although it was best I paid for it as the NHS wait was long.

I told her I didn't want anti-D's as I know grieving is a process that I've got to deal with. I don't want counselling - if I want to talk, I've got friends for that.

Despite that she sent anti D's and a link for private counselling..😗

I just took the low dose sleeping tablets, dumped the anti D's and ignored the link.

I suppose I'm old enough to remember the "Valium days" known as "Mums little helper`' which were doled out like sweets in the 1970's, and it caused no end of problems when women tried to get off of them.

GPs seem back to taking the easy option, which isn't good.🙁

I agree with others that they are definitely over prescribed. I've lost count of how many times I've been offered them despite not suffering from depression or anxiety.

It also doesn't help that the other aspects of mental health support (counselling, cbt, ptsd therapy etc) is absolutely atrocious on the NHS and unaffordable for many privately.

It's good that people feel that they can talk about it though.

I was on & off ADs for years, until my mid 30's. I figured I always would be.
I didn't have a great childhood and teen years and then a failed relationship that ended with me being a single parent, working ft nights and struggling financially.
I had a breakdown, was diagnosed with post natal depression and more ADs and a hospital stay.
I had an abusive relationship in my mid 30's after being off them for a few years and went off to the Dr's to ask for more when I was struggling again.
This Dr isn't famed locally for her bedside manner, but she said she didn't think I needed them, that the way I felt after what I'd been through was totally normal and ADs would numb it, and what I needed was to deal with it, and then move on, and that if I got 'stuck' then ADs would be appropriate and referred me for therapy, and signed me off from work for a couple of weeks - I could only do that because I was living with my mum at the time, I'd never really been able to 'stop' like that and deal with things.

I haven't taken them since because although I was really worried about not having them, I think she was right, and I'm grateful that she didn't just give me a prescription and send me on my way.

I think they're used as a quick fix for a lot of the situations that we find ourselves in - mainly so that we can continue to function on some level and earn money, look after families etc instead of being able to deal with that situation effectively.