Research suggests medication can help

The use of antidepressant drugs has increased five-fold in Britain since 1991, new research reveals.

A Europe-wide study suggests that the use of such drugs has increased by 20% each year across the continent over a similar period.

The rise in use of medication appears to have coincided with a gradual decline in suicide rates both at home and abroad.

The 495% rise in the UK’s use of antidepressants since 1991 resulted in a 14% fall in suicide rates over the same period.

But the researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science who gathered the figures said that while there is “strong evidence” that antidepressants are playing a key role in treatment strategies for depression, other factors should not be discounted. A country’s economic state, cultural mores and access to psychological services could also play a part.

The report found no consistent relationship between suicide rates and alcohol consumption, divorce, or employment rates, the Daily Mail says.

While suicide rates have fallen across Europe, suicide still remains a major public health problem in the EU countries, accounting for 60,000 deaths each year.

Lithuania has the highest current suicide rate followed by Hungary, while Greece, Italy and Spain are at the other end of the spectrum, with suicide rates the lowest in the EU.

The findings of the study, Antidepressant utilization and suicide in Europe: an ecological multi-national study, are published in the latest issue of the Public Library of Science (PLoS One).