One in seven people in England were prescribed antidepressants last year, worrying figures show.
It comes amid a sharp rise in mental health issues, such as depression and fear since the pandemic.
A record number of 9.1 million patients received the medicines from their doctors in the past twelve months, an increase of more than 15 percent in five years.
There is a large regional divide, with antidepressant use highest in North Cumbria and South Yorkshire, and almost double that in affluent parts of the country. London.
People in England’s most deprived communities received around a third more prescriptions than those in the least deprived parts of the country.
About 96 million prescription antidepressants were dispensed last year, a 21 percent increase from the 79.4 million distributed five years earlier, according to the NHS Business Services Authority.
Patients treated under the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board had the highest rate of antidepressant use, with 200 in every 1,000 prescribed.
About 5.9 million of those who received the drugs last year were women, accounting for 65 percent of patients.
The figures come against the backdrop of a sharp rise in mental health problems such as depression and anxiety – two of the main conditions for which antidepressants are used – since the pandemic.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the proportion of adults with significant symptoms of depression still remains almost twice as high as before Covid, from 9.7 per cent in 2019 to 18 per cent in April 2025 – equivalent to almost one in five adults.
The figures are even higher among younger adults, with 26 percent of people aged 16 to 29 affected – more than one in four. Dr. John Read, professor of clinical psychology at the University of East London, said the figures revealed an “epidemic of over-prescribing”.
He added that doctors were increasingly expected to treat wider social and life problems with medicine.
Women are about twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and prescribed antidepressants as men, although experts disagree about how much of this gap reflects biological differences and how much is due to women being more likely to seek help and discuss their symptoms.
Children have also been affected, and rates of mental illness have continued to rise since the pandemic.
In 2023, one in five eight to sixteen year olds was likely to have a mental disorder, up from about one in six in 2020.
Meanwhile, 1.35 million working-age people unemployed due to long-term illness reported suffering from depression, anxiety or mental health problems by 2023 – a 40 percent increase since before the pandemic.
Professor Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, believes the evidence suggests more and more people are feeling dissatisfied with life.
More recent figures show that a total of around 2.8 million people remain unemployed due to long-term illness, compared to just over 2 million before Covid.
According to the ONS, around 20.5 million working days were lost due to poor mental health in 2024.
Professor Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the figures reflected wider changes in society rather than overprescribing.
“All the evidence suggests that people are more stressed and anxious than ever,” she said.
‘People go to the doctor and say that they are not sleeping, eating, have been feeling very depressed for weeks and often ask whether antidepressants can help.
“It’s not necessarily the profession’s fault, but I am concerned about these numbers.”
For the first time in four years, the number of children prescribed antidepressants increased, from 62,601 in 2024-2025 to 63,609 last year.
The increase comes despite the fact that commonly prescribed antidepressants carry warnings about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children, adolescents and young adults.
GPs are advised not to initiate antidepressant treatment in children under the age of 18 without specialist assessment, while the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that the drugs be given in addition to psychological therapy.
For adults, NICE also advises that the drugs should not be offered as a first-line treatment for less severe depression unless that is the patient’s preference.
The most commonly prescribed antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which increase the amount of serotonin – a chemical involved in regulating mood – in the brain.
Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, professor of psychiatry and consultant psychiatrist, said the figures suggest patients were continuing to take antidepressants for longer than initially intended.
The increase is particularly striking for some individual medicines.
Prescriptions for sertraline, one of the most commonly used antidepressants, have increased by about 120 percent in the past decade.
Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, professor of psychiatry at University College London and consultant psychiatrist at North East London NHS Foundation Trust, said the figures suggest patients were taking antidepressants for longer than initially intended.
NHS guidelines recommend that people should continue taking antidepressants for six months after their symptoms have improved, before considering gradually reducing their dose.
However, separate NHS data shows that half of prescribed medicines have been taking them for more than two years, while a quarter – around two million people – have been taking them for more than five years.
Dr. Moncrieff said more and more people were turning to antidepressants to deal with difficult times in their lives.
Doctors might also find it difficult to send distressed patients away without treatment, she added, especially if they requested medication.
Psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy are also recommended treatments for depression, and NICE advises that antidepressants should not routinely be the first option for less severe cases unless the patient prefers medication.
But access to talking therapies can involve long wait times, while antidepressants can be prescribed immediately by a GP.
In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘Our mental health strategy later this year will set out our plans to build a more preventive system, which will get people the support they need at an earlier stage, and help them to continue to participate fully in education, work or community life.’
