Antidepressant use skyrockets among adolescents: Aussie study

First-time antidepressant use among adolescent females rose dramatically during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian researchers say.
Their analysis of PBS data found a 15.6% increase in antidepressant initiation between March 2020 and February 2021, corresponding to an excess of more than 5000 adolescent females being prescribed antidepressants for the first time.
Use of antidepressants by women in all age groups was higher than expected after COVID-19 hit, corresponding to an excess of 45,217 women being prescribed antidepressants on an ongoing basis, found the researchers from UNSW Sydney.
They noted that the sharpest increase was found among adolescent females (11.7% increase) and young adult females (7.5% increase).