4 in 5 mental health patients ‘are not told of drug side effects’

FAMILY doctors are leaving patients in the dark about the side effects of antidepressants, sedatives and other psychiatric treatments, experts say.

Four in every five patients with mental health problems were not told about the potential side effects of their medications, according to the charity Mind.

The organisation’s annual survey, which asked 12,000 patients about their experiences, found 53 per cent did not receive enough information about the purpose of their treatments. Only 21 per cent of patients were given an explanation about the side effects that their medication might have.

Mind said a key problem is that GPs receive no mandatory practice-based mental health training, despite more than 40 per cent of appointments involving the issue.

Of all GPs who finished their training in 2017, less than half completed an optional psychiatry placement. The Daily Mail has, for the last two years, worked with campaigners to highlight the side effects of prescription drugs. But health officials have played down the side effects of antidepressants – particularly over the difficulty of withdrawing from the pills.

Mind spokesman Sophie Corlett said: ‘It is critical people are told about potential adverse side effects – such as suicidal thoughts and self-harm – so they can make informed choices.’

Britons use more antidepressants than almost every other Western country – which experts think is partly due to lack of awareness of withdrawal problems.

The worst-hit experience nausea, anxiety, insomnia and agitation – with many put back on antidepressants, as symptoms can look like a relapse of the illness itself.