UK: Latest prescription data shows consumption of psychiatric drugs continues...

From the Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry website, here's an article entitled, "Latest prescription data shows consumption of psychiatric drugs continues to soar":

 

http://cepuk.org/2015/04/10/latest-prescription-data-shows-consumption-psychiatric-drugs-continues-soar/

 

Sad news, indeed.

Lapis, that's terrible. I think about the folks in the UK being ahead of the US in the drug thing--particularly with benzos because you've had lawsuits and such. Too many of us are drugged and polydrugged and it doesn't seem to be getting any attention. I'm reading that book, "Your drug may be your problem: how and why to stop taking psychiatric medications." Great book.

Hey MTFan, thanks for responding, and yes, I agree, it's disheartening info. It seems to be happening everywhere. There's a comment from a doctor in Italy who sheds some light on why it might be happening. He says people want quick solutions and don't want to put the time into counselling. There's no quick fix, though. Some things require time and effort, and one's own mental health is one of those things.

So true. People wouldn't think it's a quick fix if they knew how freaking slow the recovery was coming off the poison 

Thanks, Lapis.  I had heard about this via TV here in the UK.

 

Have shared it via Facebook.

 

I think it is true that people are more likely to look to doctors nowadays to help them face normal life events such as bereavement, divorce, unemployment etc.  While some will need A/Ds to get through difficult times, many would be better to use other coping methods.  Sadly, many people lack sufficient social support in their lives to get them through the hard times.

 

The recent recession will only have made things worse.  So many people here living in poverty and food banks have soared in number.  Provision of counselling is also expensive at a time when the NHS is really struggling.

 

There are no easy answers.

 

LF

I have to be honest, I'm not surprised at this now we have a tory government and austerity (lol) at the same time.

 

It's simply a lot cheaper to drug us all than treat us physically or with social care.

 

 

Sad. 

 

 

Yobi :/

 

Yes, I think we're facing the same issues around the world. It's certainly not easy to figure out a way forward, but I doubt that pills can solve things. Personally, the SSRIs have only caused me problems, so I'm surprised at how many people like to take them. They come with risks, side effects and a withdrawal syndrome. Scary!

 

 

Seems to me that the drugs are prescribed to treat something, right?  So if they're being prescribed, I like to look a step farther back and wonder could the ailment have been prevented if, say, someone like me wasn't il-equipped at school to deal with the scare world we live in, and how to better prepare myself from realities like nervous breakdowns later in life?

 

Had I had an education in that, I wonder, would I have fared better in life and not felt the need to self medicate when I realised what they said and what life was really like were NOTHING alike?

 

I get a strong feeling drugs are now a first-line answer to something unadressed beneath the surface in society. 

 

Hmm...

 

 

Yobi

 

YES! I agree! If we had learned -- at home, in school -- how to take care of ourselves physically and emotionally, then perhaps we would have been better equipped for this world. These are big societal and systemic changes that need to happen.

In reading one of the comments, that patients would rather take a pill because it offers a quicker short-term solution, I think that if people were more educated about the dangers of using these drugs long term, they would realize that it's a double-edged sword and might not be so quick to jump to that "solution." As it is now, therapists still aren't getting it, and I'm afraid that it seems hopeless to have them change. But maybe not. Education is vital to steering patients away from these drugs and into more effective, and less harmful, ways of healing. Then again, as was said, it's more expensive to have alternative therapies. This problem is so deeply entrenched that it seems it will take a very long time to pull the root out and begin in another direction entirely.

I think it's good to brainstorm ideas about how some of these changes can come about, even if they're difficult changes to make. I, too, think it's about education and changing attitudes towards how emotional problems can be solved. Some of them -- e.g. grief after a death -- shouldn't be considered to be "problems", but rather as normal consequences of things that happen in life. It's NORMAL to be sad sometimes. If all negative emotions are considered bad, then people think they have to medicate them and get rid of them quickly. Some depression passes on its own in a few months, and there are studies that show that the SSRIs are no better at ameliorating depression than a placebo.

 

 

Hmmm.  Lots of stuff to mull over.

 

I took A/Ds for 35 years for depression caused by nitrazepam!!  Almost off effexor now!!  :thumbsup:

I thought I could not cope with life.  I now realise what a load of b*** that was.  I made a success of my life despite being ill every day for 40 years. That takes strength and determination. I realise now how easy it is to be persuaded by doctors' theories when deeply depressed.  If I had known the risks of taking A/Ds it would have made no difference because the depression was so bad.  In saying that, coming off effexor has presented no difficulty so far.  It seems the nitrazepam was the cause of all my problems both while on it and while coming off it.

 

Society keeps changing.  There is always hope.  We are now aiming to be a smoke free country (UK) in a few decades.  That would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago.  We just keep chipping away at the problem.  :thumbsup:  How many people have been killed due to smoking? 

 

The same will happen with benzos. We keep seeing new evidence against using them.  A/Ds may go through a similar process.  New drugs will keep coming out though.  Let's hope they are less harmful and more effective.

 

The ironic thing is that we talk openly about more things now than we ever did.  Yet, we take more pills.  That is a real conundrum.  :idiot:  There is also more awareness, more information about mental health issues than ever there was.

 

Life is more complex, less secure.  When I was at school there was one boy from a single parent family. It was that unusual.  Society has changed a lot even in my lifetime.  Children are under more pressure I would say than we were. when we were kids.  We were able to be kids much longer than nowadays.

 

I am rambling on here so better stop.

 

No answers but always hope ...

 

LF 

 

Lookingforward I was in a similar pickle. 27 years ago I was so depressed I couldn't function and was constantly suicidal and I had babies to take care of. I was desperate. I kept being put on more and more drugs for treatment resistant depression, PTSD, migraines, CFS, fibro...The meds seemed to help until they didn't and all together they started making me worse. I seem to be depressed less often without daily meds and my pain is even better. But sometimes it feels scary that there aren't meds that I believe can bail me out if things get too hairy.

 

I'm sorry you're bedbound. That must be rough.

Thanks, MT.  So sorry you had to endure terrible times too especially with babies to care for.  I was too ill to contemplate having children.  It doesn't upset me but it would have been nice if my life had been different.

 

The longer you cope without meds the stronger you will feel.  You will get to the stage where you know you can rely on your own strength even if things get bad again.  I learned to cope with depression and it did get easier the older I got.  Of course it may also have diminished a bit.

 

To be honest, being bedbound is a picnic compared to the mental anguish I went through as a young woman. The physical pain has been awful, being bedbound is frustrating, but I am depression free for the first time in my adult life and that is simply beyond words.

 

I hope you will be free from it too one day.

 

Hugs

 

LF 

 

 

 

 

LF, when this prescription data recently came out in the UK, what happened? Were there discussions about it, e.g. on BBC Radio or TV? In the major papers? I'm only peripherally familiar with the media there, but I expect that such data might instigate some important conversations about health care issues, mental health and the like. At least, I hope so!

LF, when this prescription data recently came out in the UK, what happened? Were there discussions about it, e.g. on BBC Radio or TV? In the major papers? I'm only peripherally familiar with the media there, but I expect that such data might instigate some important conversations about health care issues, mental health and the like. At least, I hope so!

 

Lapis, please don't get me wrong here, but... a major debate over drugs policy in the UK based on facts and science?  And on the BBC?

 

Now, wouldn't that be a thought!

 

Maybe then they could justify the tv license fee.. 

 

I have a lot to say about all this, Lapis, but I'm restraining myself from getting on my soapbox out of respect for you and your thread. 

Thanks, MT.  So sorry you had to endure terrible times too especially with babies to care for.  I was too ill to contemplate having children.  It doesn't upset me but it would have been nice if my life had been different.

 

The longer you cope without meds the stronger you will feel.  You will get to the stage where you know you can rely on your own strength even if things get bad again.  I learned to cope with depression and it did get easier the older I got.  Of course it may also have diminished a bit.

 

To be honest, being bedbound is a picnic compared to the mental anguish I went through as a young woman. The physical pain has been awful, being bedbound is frustrating, but I am depression free for the first time in my adult life and that is simply beyond words.

 

I hope you will be free from it too one day.

 

Hugs

 

LF 

 

LF, you are brave and a miracle with all you have come through. I've been noticing your posts for a while and your story is amazing. People like you give me courage when I get lily-livered.

 

When I was in bed a lot and my life was generally disabled with CFS, fibro and migraines, I remember thinking that when I was depressed it was worse than the physical stuff. I think being young and depressed is especially rough. We have more internal resources when we're older. I hope you have support in your life. You deserve it.

LF, when this prescription data recently came out in the UK, what happened? Were there discussions about it, e.g. on BBC Radio or TV? In the major papers? I'm only peripherally familiar with the media there, but I expect that such data might instigate some important conversations about health care issues, mental health and the like. At least, I hope so!

 

Lapis, please don't get me wrong here, but... a major debate over drugs policy in the UK based on facts and science?  And on the BBC?

 

Now, wouldn't that be a thought!

 

Maybe then they could justify the tv license fee.. 

 

I have a lot to say about all this, Lapis, but I'm restraining myself from getting on my soapbox out of respect for you and your thread. 

 

Hi Yobiwan,

Perhaps I'm just a naive over-the-ponder, hoping there might be some discussion about these issues so that we can point over there and say, "See, look what's happening there! Great stuff!" I know the issues are complex, but I just thought that such health data might at least be reflected in some articles in the papers and radio/TV interviews, etc.  A major debate is something else completely.  I believe there are issues that we all face -- especially those of us living in countries with socialized medicine. Everyone feels squeezed and the needs are great. There's always a trade-off.

 

As far as the BBC TV license fee, well, that's another matter! I know you folks pay steep fees over there, but I support public broadcasting. That's another world of rapid change, so this conversation could turn into something else entirely. I guess we'll stick with the topic at hand, i.e. high prescription rates for psychiatric meds!

 

 

HiLapis

 

I think Yobi is too cynical about prescription drug policy in the UK.  Here is a link to The Guardian newspaper, one of the better quality British papers.  Such issues are taken seriously in the UK because of our state funded healthcare system which is creaking at the seams. Prescribing by GPs is closely monitored and controlled by the GP contract.  GPs are self employed but contracted by government to provide healthcare. Over prescribing is clamped down on.

 

It would be very easy for government to takes steps to restrict prescribing of any drug which is why its lack of action re benzos is particularly shocking.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/may/28/rise-in-antidepressant-prescriptions-rates-in-england-get-the-data

 

I am not watching tv very often and don't have newspapers delivered because of cognitive issues so I don't know how much this issue has been discussed but I am sure it won't go unnoticed by those in power.

 

Ever the optimist .....

 

LF 

You're right, that's fair to say I'm cynical about it, but I don't feel it's a cheap cynicism with everything I've seen from within the system.

 

 

Yobi

 

Thanks, MT.  So sorry you had to endure terrible times too especially with babies to care for.  I was too ill to contemplate having children.  It doesn't upset me but it would have been nice if my life had been different.

 

The longer you cope without meds the stronger you will feel.  You will get to the stage where you know you can rely on your own strength even if things get bad again.  I learned to cope with depression and it did get easier the older I got.  Of course it may also have diminished a bit.

 

To be honest, being bedbound is a picnic compared to the mental anguish I went through as a young woman. The physical pain has been awful, being bedbound is frustrating, but I am depression free for the first time in my adult life and that is simply beyond words.

 

I hope you will be free from it too one day.

 

Hugs

 

LF 

 

LF, you are brave and a miracle with all you have come through. I've been noticing your posts for a while and your story is amazing. People like you give me courage when I get lily-livered.

 

When I was in bed a lot and my life was generally disabled with CFS, fibro and migraines, I remember thinking that when I was depressed it was worse than the physical stuff. I think being young and depressed is especially rough. We have more internal resources when we're older. I hope you have support in your life. You deserve it.

 

Hi MTfan

 

Thanks for your lovely post.  You are right, we do have more inner resources to draw on when we are older.  I have really good friends whom I have known most of my life.    Few family left and little support.  My friends make up for it.

 

I hope you have support too.

 

Hugs

 

LF 

Thanks for posting this, Lapis.

 

I wish, though, instead of just mentioning the "dependency" problem with these drugs, they would also emphasize the role doctors play in this by telling patients they have a "chemical imbalance".

 

I'm heard this since I was 17 and first diagnosed manic depressive.

 

And every time I've seen a psychiatrist over the past 30 years and told them I wanted off my meds (happened quite a few times), I was told "no, you need to take them" and "you need these medications like a diabetic needs insulin".

 

Unfortunately, the only people with severe mental illness who are going to live a long life are the ones who go against doctors' orders.

 

Thank G-d for the internet.

 

Does it say something that I had to convince my GP not to prescribe me a single, large dose of valium because it would increase my chances of liking it too much, given that I had a documented problem with benzos?

 

She opened a book and preached what the manufacturer told her to.

 

Need I say more?

 

 

Yobi

 

HiLapis

 

I think Yobi is too cynical about prescription drug policy in the UK.  Here is a link to The Guardian newspaper, one of the better quality British papers.  Such issues are taken seriously in the UK because of our state funded healthcare system which is creaking at the seams. Prescribing by GPs is closely monitored and controlled by the GP contract.  GPs are self employed but contracted by government to provide healthcare. Over prescribing is clamped down on.

 

It would be very easy for government to takes steps to restrict prescribing of any drug which is why its lack of action re benzos is particularly shocking.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/may/28/rise-in-antidepressant-prescriptions-rates-in-england-get-the-data

 

I am not watching tv very often and don't have newspapers delivered because of cognitive issues so I don't know how much this issue has been discussed but I am sure it won't go unnoticed by those in power.

 

Ever the optimist .....

 

LF 

 

LF, thanks very much for the link to the Guardian article. Impressive! Such detailed information about where and to whom the ADs were prescribed should be very useful in making decisions and changing things. Let's hope there's some analysis going on behind the scenes so people can use the data to figure out what the heck is going on. I'd like to know the following: Are the drugs working?! If these drugs are so good and they work against depression, why aren't people getting off them because they feel so darn good?! Seriously. Those are some stats I'd like to see. As far as I know, they've just created a huge population of people who could potentially have a rough ride when it comes time to get off.

 

Of course, there's the issue of cost to the taxpayer too. That's another reason to look harder at the numbers, but I guess meds are less expensive than counselling.

 

And MindSeeker, that "chemical imbalance" explanation should be challenged every time. Yes, thank goodness for the internet -- and for a few good books by doctors and journalist who are putting out solid, fact-based information.

 

I'm not sure if any of you read the study I posted a little while ago that looked at GP experiences and perceptions of prescriptions for benzodiazepines. It gives the reader an insider's view of the doctors' thought processes. Very enlightening. My guess is that many of those doctors who are quick to refill a benzo script or hand one out in the first place might be quick to do the same with antidepressants. Ah, but that's another study!

So I've been reading all of this stuff about how psych drugs don't work. I totally see that with depression and anxiety. The exposure I've had to folks who are bipolar, though, is that the meds help (imperfectly) but maybe I've been wrong all of this time. How are those of you with that issue doing with the mood swings (both up and down)? Do you find your moods are more stable off the drugs? What do you do that helps? I really want to know so I can be more helpful to others.