Covid effect on drug use

The rate of antidepressants being prescribed over the past four years is at an all-time high and there’s a huge disparity between ethnic groups.

Data released to RNZ’s Checkpoint under the Official Information Act showed the rate of antidepressants prescribed to Ma¯ori, and Pasifika was up to 34 times less than other ethnicities, despite Ma¯ ori and Pasifika having higher rates of mental health difficulties.

The Ministry of Health looked at antidepressant prescriptions from 2017-2020. The biggest jump was in 2020, when 21,721 more people than the year before were prescribed with antidepressants.

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson put that down to Covid-19 lockdowns and the pandemic’s long-term effects.

On average, women were prescribed antidepressants at nearly twice the rate of men, which Robinson put down to stigma.

“Unfortunately, when it comes to suicide, men are much more likely than women to go to the point of attempting or taking their own life, but our research shows women are almost twice as likely as men to have an unhealthy wellbeing.”

On average, other ethnicities were given antidepressants at eight times the rate of Ma¯ori, 34 times the rate of Pasifika and 16 times that of Asians.

That was despite research that showed one in three Ma¯ori, and one in four Pacific people experienced mental illness compared to one in five for the total population according to the latest report from 2018.

Auckland University Pacific Health academic Collin Tukuitonga said cost was often a barrier, and not having transport to go to a clinic. He said Pasifika people were often undiagnosed and undertreated because of cultural barriers.