The CDC just put out a report about Americans’ use of antidepressants. The paper has already gotten a bunch of press (Washington Post, CNN, Reuters to name a few). Some of the key bullet points of the paper are:
- Eleven percent of Americans aged 12 years and over take antidepressant medication.
- Females are more likely to take antidepressants than are males, and non-Hispanic white persons are more likely to take antidepressants than are non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American persons.
- About one-third of persons with severe depressive symptoms take antidepressant medication.
- More than 60% of Americans taking antidepressant medication have taken it for 2 years or longer, with 14% having taken the medication for 10 years or more.
- Less than one-third of Americans taking one antidepressant medication and less than one-half of those taking multiple antidepressants have seen a mental health professional in the past year.
Wow, that’s a lot of info to digest, but a couple points stand out for me: 1) only one third of severely depressed people take antidepressants, and 2) less than one third of people taking antidepressants have seen a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. What this means is that the people who most need antidepressant medication are not taking any, and most people who are taking such medication don’t access services that can either replace, or serve as adjunctive treatment to, the antidepressant medication they are already taking.