Antidepressant Use Has Risen Sharply Over Past 20 Years

USA Today cites a U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that chronicles the increasing use of antidepressants in the United States.

Here are some of the major points:

1. Antidepressants are the third most common prescription drug.
2. Less than one-third of people taking one antidepressant and less than half of those taking multiple antidepressants had seen a mental health professional in the past year.
3. Women are 2.5 times more likely to take antidepressants than men and 23 percent of women aged 40 to 59 take antidepressants, more than in any other age/sex group.
4. Fourteen percent of white people take antidepressants, compared with 4 percent of blacks and 3 percent of Mexican Americans. The researchers found no association between income and antidepressant use.