Medical experts and politicians have called for the amount of antidepressants being prescribed to people across the UK to be reduced in an open letter to the government.
The letter coincides with the launch of the all-party parliamentary group Beyond Pills, which aims to reduce what it calls the UK healthcare system’s over-reliance on prescription medication.
The group, co-chaired by the MP Danny Kruger and by a former chief executive of NHS England, Nigel Crisp, will combine the work of the APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence and the College of Medicine Beyond Pills Campaign.
A total of 8.6 million patients in England were prescribed antidepressants in 2022-23, with the amount having almost doubled since 2011, according to the NHS.
Published in the British Medical Journal on Tuesday, the letter says: “Rising antidepressant prescribing is not associated with an improvement in mental health outcomes at the population level, which, according to some measures, have worsened as antidepressant prescribing has risen.”
The letter goes on to say that reducing the rate of antidepressant prescriptions could be achieved through measures that includes stopping the prescribing of antidepressants for mild conditions, and funding and delivering a national 24-hour prescribed drug withdrawal helpline and website for new patients to help those experiencing withdrawal symptoms from prescription medication.
It has been signed by health and medical professionals including Prof Sam Everington, the vice-president of the BMA, and Prof John Read, the chair of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal.
Commenting on the launch of the Beyond Pills APPG, Crisp said: “The high rate of prescribing of antidepressants over recent years is a clear example of over-medicalisation, where patients are often prescribed unnecessary and potentially harmful drugs instead of tackling the root causes of their suffering, such as loneliness, poverty or poor housing.
He added: “The Beyond Pills APPG is being launched to raise awareness of this public health issue. It will focus on promoting proven alternatives to pills such as social prescribing and psychological therapies, as well as local services to help people withdraw safely from these medicines. It will work alongside others to change the way we all think about health, and address these wider social determinants of poor health.”
Dr Andrew Tresidder, of NHS Somerset, said: “As a longtime Somerset GP and current clinical lead for medicines management in NHS Somerset, I really welcome the Beyond Pills APPG. While the de-stigmatisation of mental illness over the last 20 years is welcome, at the same time there has been a worrying growth in the medicalisation of normal distress. As prescribers, we aim to act wisely, and safely and use an evidence base in order to avoid the traps of overprescribing and potential dependence.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting people with their mental health and we’re going further and faster to transform our country’s mental health services. Up to £2.3bn in extra funding is being invested by the government until 2024 to expand services so that 2 million more people, including 345,000 children and young people, can get the mental health support they need.”
