More people without any documented psychiatric condition are taking antidepressants, according to a study being published Aug. 4, and some of them are likely receiving little benefit.
Nearly three-quarters of antidepressants in the U.S. were prescribed by non-psychiatrists in 2007, up from 60% a decade earlier, according to the analysis of a national sample of 233,144 doctor office visits, the latest data available. The percentage of these patients prescribed antidepressants without being diagnosed with a mental illness more than doubled in that period to 6.4% in 2007 from 2.5% in 1996.
The findings spark concern about whether these medicines are effective for the patients receiving them, since previous research has shown that antidepressants are most effective for people with severe symptoms, said Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and an author of the study being published in the journal Health Affairs.
Read more from the Wall Street Journal here.
Comments