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 ?

This is a genuine question and by no means having a go at anyone so pls no one take it the wrong way or as a critisism, but are peoples expectations about being happy in life a lot higher nowadays? This came up in a conversation with a younger colleague at work. My definition of “happy at work” is that you don’t hate work and dread going in, it’s ok as a job but given the choice if you didn’t need the money you’d rather be doing something else with your time. Her arguement was that you spend so much time out of your life at work she should actually enjoy it but perosnally I think that attitude whilst nice in theory is setting yourself up to fail

@Morph22010 I do think that there is an element of this expectation that everything will be good and happy all the time. I feel some people lack of perspective and perhaps due to the influence of social media compare their lives with others and expect things to be picture perfect. Young people in particular seem to lack resilience, this is notable in the workplace where any inconvenience or normal life problems are considered a big deal and the level of sick leave is very high.

@Morph22010 my hopes for life are that I can function and have times that I feel at ease. Unfortunately I'm a long way from that at the moment. No trigger or trauma - it just comes out of the blue.

@malificent7 which AD are you finding helpful ?

I think a couple of things OP.

1 - Health and social care professions = higher use because of what people have to see and deal with on a daily basis and also very quick burnout rates but people still have to keep working.

2 - I think they're over prescribed. Some depression can be due to circumstance or environment and the easy GP answer to that is to hand out antidepressants. While some people have full on "proper depression" that has a base in brain chemistry/genetics/etc some people are just having a really shit time.
I dont think the NHS has the time or inclination to go sifting and work out cause.

I have never taken anti depressants, but I was offered them as a response to my mother dying. I refused as I thought "this is grief, you cant just medicate it away" but I think a lot of people would take them in circumstances like that just to get some relief, but as a result they could be medicating for years as coming off them presents a new set of difficulties.

I take citalopram, but for anxiety rather than depression.