Highly Used and Abused
More than 20 percent of adults in America (or 1 in 5) took at least one prescription medication to treat psychological and behavioral conditions such as depression and anxiety in 2010. This included more than 25 percent of women (or 1 in 4). These figures come from a new reported released by Medco Health Systems, a pharmacy benefits company that monitors insurance claims for prescriptions. The report, which is titled “America’s State of Mind,” is based on statistics from Medco’s database of 2.5 million patients.
The figures released by Medco show a 22 percent overall increase in prescriptions for psychological disorders since 2001. Women age 45 and older are the group with the highest number of these prescriptions. Medco reports that women are more than twice as likely as men to take medication for anxiety. They are also more likely to take antipsychotic drugs to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other serious psychological problems. The study also found that more adult women take medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than men.
Medco spokesman Dr. David Muzina noted that although there has been a significant increase in the use of prescription drugs to treat psychological disorders, it’s not clear from the numbers whether more people are developing psychological disorders or more people are seeking help and obtaining prescriptions to treat their problems. Dr. Muzina also pointed out that events in the past decade have been highly stressful, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, two wars and the current economic recession. This could lead to higher numbers of people seeking help for psychological disorders.
Another factor that could be contributing to the growth in prescriptions for psychological disorders is an increase in the amount of marketing being done by pharmaceutical companies in the past decade. Television and print publications regularly carry ads for specific drugs and urge readers to contact their doctor for a prescription.
In states located in the so-called “diabetes belt” (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee), almost 25 percent of people take at least one medication for the treatment of a psychological disorder. This is related to a higher reported occurrence of anxiety and depression among people with diabetes. The states with the lowest level of people taking drugs of psychological disorders are Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Less than 15 percent of people take this type of medication in these states.
The study also found a noteworthy drop in the use of antidepressants by children and teenagers. This has been attributed to a 2004 FDA warning about increased risk of suicide among people age 19 and younger who take this type of medication. Since 2005, prescriptions for ADHD for children have also declined.
