IT is a billion dollar question, do so-called “happy pills” work? The value of the global antidepressant market in 2022 was £13BILLION. By 2032, experts say it will be £28BILLION. Depression is an awful condition.
It destroys relationships, consumes lives and, in the most severe cases, it ends lives. Like all mental health issues, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to relieving symptoms, which range from feelings of emptiness and despair to numbness or tearfulness. And global research has shown there has been a significant rise in cases over the last three decades.
In England, the Office for National Statistics found 16 per cent of adults were affected in 2022, higher than pre-pandemic levels of ten per cent. Millions say antidepressants are their saving grace, yet for others the drugs don’t work out. Heather James credits the drugs with “taking the edge off” her grief, after daughter Dame Deborah James died from bowel cancer in 2022.
And Dr Alex George , of Love Island fame, credits his sertraline pills with pulling him through after the loss of his younger brother to suicide in 2020. The TV doctor has said previously: “I think in many ways it probably saved my life. “I think it’s important for people to understand that sometimes, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get through.
” One in six people in England were prescribed antidepressants in 2022-2023, an increase of 17 per cent in five years, NHS figures show. Many patients have been on th.
