Anti-depressant prescriptions soared in wake of referendum

PRESCRIPTIONS for anti-depressants rose after the Brexit referendum, researchers have found.

They compared prescriptions for anti-depressants, as well as iron and anti-gout drugs – chosen because they were unlikely to be linked to depression – across England in the month of July for every year between 2011 and 2016.

Prescriptions for each drug rose every year, which would be expected due to the ageing and growing population and rise in obesity.

But for anti-depressants, when compared with the other drugs, there was a spike in July 2016 – the month after the referendum on June 23, the experts from King’s College Lon- don and Harvard University in the US found. They said anti-depressant prescriptions rose 13 per cent higher than the other drugs.

The researchers believe this increase was at least partially caused by ‘increased uncertainty for some parts of the population’.

Writing in the BMJ Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the authors said the way the campaign was conducted may have contributed to this. They said: ‘There was much at stake in the run-up to the referendum – leaving the EU was expected to greatly affect the British economy and society.’

But they said not everyone reacted the same way, adding that ‘increased uncertainty for certain parts of the population... does not rule out an improvement in mood for others’.