The number of young women taking antidepressants has increased significantly since the second lockdown two years ago. According to a report published Monday by research institute Nivel. GPs prescribed 19 percent more antidepressants to this group in all of 2021 compared to 2019, the year before the corona pandemic. In the first half of 2022, that increase was even 26 percent. Last year, young men saw an increase of 11 percent.
In total, antidepressant use among all young people between the ages of 15 and 24 has increased by 16 percent, according to a sample of about 370 general practices between 2019 and 2022. Nivel has not investigated the underlying reasons, but researcher Karin Hek does. that the increase started with the second lockdown in the autumn of 2020. “That is an indication that the increase has to do with the pandemic,” Hek told NRC.
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“Previous research has already shown that the corona measures have had a great effect on young people,” said Hek. This age group went to the GP last year more often than before the corona crisis with complaints about anxious feelings and depression. Women usually consult their GP for psychological complaints more than men, which they did before the pandemic.
After the relaxation of the corona measures, the number of prescriptions has not decreased. According to researcher Hek, this may be because antidepressants are often prescribed for longer than a few months. According to Nivel’s research, it is also possible that the mental resilience of young people has decreased after more than two years of corona measures and lockdowns. Nivel researcher and professor by special appointment of Pharmaceutical Care Research (University of Groningen) Liset van Dijk told NOS Radio 1 News that she hopes that young people will be spared as much as possible in future measures, for example by keeping the schools open.