Janice Wood at PsychCentral reports:
The rate of antidepressant use in the United States increased nearly 400 percent over the last two decades, according to a report released Oct. 19.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics found that 11 percent of Americans over the age of 12 takes an antidepressant, with about 14 percent taking the medication for more than 10 years.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages from 2005 to 2008 and the most frequently used medication by people between the ages of 18 and 44.
The study also found that women are two and a half times more likely to take antidepressant medication as males, while 23 percent of women ages 40 to 59 take antidepressants, more than in any other age or sex group.
Among both males and females, the study found that people aged 40 and older are more likely to take antidepressants than younger people.
The study also found that among those taking antidepressants, approximately 14 percent take more than one. While less than one-half of those patients had seen a mental health professional in the past year, the researchers did find that the likelihood of having seen a mental health professional increased as the number of antidepressants taken increased.
Other findings show that about 14 percent of non-Hispanic white persons take antidepressant medications, compared with 4 percent of non-Hispanic black and 3 percent of Mexican-American persons.
Researchers concluded that there is no difference by income in the prevalence of antidepressant use.
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