Disclaimer: This article contains information and opinions on mental health, medication, and general medical practices. It is not intended as medical advice. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please consult a qualified healthcare professional. The content may contain triggering themes related to depression, PTSD, or medical mistrust.
The Antidepressant Epidemic
Antidepressant use has soared over the past two decades, with the UK alone seeing a doubling in prescriptions since 2008. While medication can be life-changing for some, concerns are growing around its overprescription, especially for patients who may not need long-term pharmacological treatment. From the reluctance of GPs to offer fast-acting relief to the alarming trend of children being medicated, it’s time to ask, are we medicating emotion at the expense of well-being?
Quick Fix Denied: The Valium Taboo
Fast Relief Rejected
General Practitioners are increasingly hesitant to prescribe short-term medications such as Valium (Diazepam) or other benzodiazepines. These drugs, although effective in the short term for anxiety, grief, panic attacks, trauma, or PTSD, are often demonised due to their addictive potential.
Long-Term Drugs Pushed Instead
Instead of providing a temporary lifeline, GPs frequently turn to SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), which can take 4–8 weeks to build up in the system.
**For someone drowning in panic or grief, this delay can feel like a lifetime**.
Children and Medication: A Dangerous Shortcut
Young Minds on Medication
An increasing number of children and teenagers are being prescribed antidepressants despite guidelines recommending therapy as the first course of action. Often, children experiencing bullying, loss, ADHD, or situational stress are handed pills before being offered proper mental health support, counselling, or school-based interventions.
Why the Rush?
Instead of exploring underlying causes, many professionals take the faster route, chemical solutions. But medicating developing brains may carry long-term implications on emotional regulation, cognitive development, and even physical health.
The Good: When Antidepressants Work
For Some, a Lifeline
For individuals suffering from clinical depression, severe anxiety disorders, or postnatal depression, antidepressants can be life-saving tools that restore balance and functionality.
Part of a Bigger Picture
When used alongside therapy, social support, and lifestyle changes, medication can be part of a successful holistic treatment plan. But the key is: part of, not the only solution.
The Bad: Side Effects and Zombie States
Tiredness and Emotional Numbing
One of the most commonly reported side effects of antidepressants is extreme fatigue. Many patients describe feeling like a “zombie”, present, but emotionally detached and numb. For some, this leads to more distress than the condition they were treating in the first place.
Weight Gain, Sexual Dysfunction, and Insomnia
SSRIs, SNRIs, and tricyclic antidepressants come with a cocktail of side effects, from weight gain and insomnia to sexual dysfunction and emotional blunting. These effects are often downplayed or ignored altogether by prescribing doctors.
The Ugly: Profit Over Patients?
Are GPs Just Pill Dispensers?
There’s growing concern that some GPs are functioning less like healers and more like profit-driven gatekeepers. While they are under immense pressure from the NHS, it’s troubling how quickly they reach for the prescription pad, especially when pharmaceutical companies offer incentives for prescribing specific brands.
Pharmaceutical Influence
Though rarely disclosed to patients, some GP practices receive funding or perks linked to drug sales. This raises serious ethical questions about whose interests are truly being served.
Short-Term Fixes? No Profit There
GPs often resist prescribing fast-acting medications like Valium, not solely out of concern for addiction, but because short-term fixes don’t generate long-term profits. Meanwhile, SSRIs keep patients returning for monthly prescriptions for years.
The Alternatives: What Should Come First
- Counselling or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Peer support or group therapy
- Lifestyle interventions (diet, sleep, exercise)
- Mindfulness or meditation
- Temporary medication only if necessary and reviewed regularly
These options often cost time and effort, things that GPs in a rushed 10-minute appointment rarely have to spare.
Conclusion: Time to Rethink the Prescription Culture
Overprescribing antidepressants is not just a public health issue; it’s a societal reflection on how we treat emotional suffering. While antidepressants undoubtedly have a place in medicine, they should not be the default solution. Emotional pain is not always pathological. Sometimes, people just need time, support, and space to heal, not a lifelong chemical dependency.
Resources:
- Tom Cruise’s ominous 2005 warning about Big Pharma re-emerges as CDC drops antidepressant bombshell | Daily Mail Online
- National overprescribing review report – GOV.UK
- The trouble with antidepressants: why the evidence overplays benefits and underplays risks—an essay by John B Warren | The BMJ
- Overprescribed Medications for US Adults: Four Major Examples – PMC
- The overprescription of antidepressants and its impact on the elderly in Australia – PubMed
- Are Antidepressants Really “Over-Prescribed” in the US?
- Long-Term Antidepressant (SSRI) Use Increasing: Overprescription & Withdrawal Hesitancy – MentalHealthDaily
- Why has prescribing of antidepressants increased over the last 30 years? – Medical Centre
Andrew Jones is a seasoned journalist renowned for his expertise in current affairs, politics, economics and health reporting. With a career spanning over two decades, he has established himself as a trusted voice in the field, providing insightful analysis and thought-provoking commentary on some of the most pressing issues of our time.
