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Antidepressant use in England reached its highest recorded level in 2025–26, with roughly one in seven people prescribed an antidepressant item.
The figure has prompted concern about whether medication is being prescribed too often. But the available evidence points to a more complicated picture: antidepressant use has risen alongside worsening mental health, deep regional inequalities and long waits for talking therapies.
A record figure, but not a simple explanation
Media coverage has questioned whether the increase should be reversed and whether it reflects “overprescribing”. Dr John Read, a professor of clinical psychology, has used that term to mean prescribing antidepressants when a patient should not receive them or when a better and safer alternative is available.
However, the increase in prescribing is described as strongly correlated with a rise in diagnoses of common conditions including depression and anxiety. That relationship does not, by itself, prove that the increase in diagnoses caused the rise in prescriptions. It does show why a single explanation is unlikely to capture the whole trend.
Office for National Statistics data cited in the source found that depressive symptoms among adults across Britain doubled during the Covid-19 crisis, reaching almost one in five people. By April 2025, the rate remained almost as high. NHS data is also cited as showing that one in four young people in England has a mental health condition.
Where prescribing is highest
The largest increases are reported in some of England’s most impoverished regions, while more affluent areas show more modest levels of use.
The highest reported rate was in the area covered by the North East and North Cumbria integrated care board, where 200 in every 1,000 people were prescribed antidepressant medication. The board includes some of the country’s most deprived areas, which have experienced longstanding inequalities and poor health.
Poverty is associated with poorer mental health outcomes, and chronic stress is described as an important element in many cases of depression, anxiety and related disorders. This helps explain why socioeconomic conditions may be part of the reason antidepressants are increasingly used as an initial treatment.
Medication and access to alternatives
Critics argue that doctors are increasingly being asked to address broad social and life problems with medication. Antidepressants are not a complete answer to those problems, and record use can reasonably prompt questions about whether people are receiving the right type of support.
At the same time, the source says GPs follow National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. Those guidelines state that clinicians should “not routinely offer antidepressant medication as first-line treatment for less severe depression unless that is the person’s preference”.
Talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy involve regular one-to-one sessions with trained counsellors. NHS waits for these interventions are described as regularly lasting months or years, with access especially difficult in more deprived areas. Antidepressants, by contrast, are generally accessible straight away.
That unequal access can shape the choices available to both patients and clinicians. It also means that high prescribing figures do not necessarily show that GPs are simply handing out medication without considering other options. They may reflect genuine patient need, patient preference and the limited availability of alternatives.
What needs to change
The figures do not make antidepressants a magic bullet, nor do they settle the question of whether every prescription is appropriate. They do underline the need for mental health services that offer timely, suitable support rather than relying on one form of treatment.
The government announced a new mental health strategy in May of the year referenced by the source, with the stated aim of shifting care from crisis intervention towards prevention. Digital therapies for depression and anxiety are also described as a possible way to free up thousands of NHS therapist hours. Frontline workers, clinicians and mental health experts were invited to contribute views on transforming care.
For anyone taking an antidepressant, prescribing statistics cannot determine what is right for that individual. Treatment decisions should be discussed with a qualified healthcare professional, and medication should not be stopped or changed without medical advice.
The central issue is therefore not simply whether England uses too many antidepressants. It is whether people experiencing mental health difficulties can access a range of effective, timely and appropriate support—and whether the social conditions contributing to distress are addressed alongside clinical care.
AI tools were used to assist with the preparation of this article.
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