Thousands of French children on anti-depressants for ‘eco-anxiety’
FAMILY doctors and hospitals in France are doling out anti-depressants and stimulant medication to “tens of thousands” of schoolchildren as the fear of climate change, or “eco-anxiety”, takes its toll on minors, a government- commissioned report has found.
A sharp increase in prescriptions has placed the country among the heaviest users of such drugs for children in Europe.
The use of “psychostimulants”, such as Ritalin – often used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD – surged by 78 per cent among children aged six to 17 between 2014 and 2021, found France’s Higher Council for Family, Childhood and the Aged (HCFEA), which answers to the prime minister.
The prescription of anti-depressants shot up by 62 per cent, while hypnotic drugs or sedatives rose by 155 per cent.
In the report entitled “How to help children who are in a bad way?”, leaked to Le Parisien, the body warned that children were being given drugs that were often only cleared for adult use as a quick fix to a dearth of psychiatric care.
It cited school pressure, social media and eco-anxiety as some of the causes of mental health issues and “behavioural disorders” among French children. “You’d have to be blind not to make the mental health of children and adolescents a health policy priority,” said Sylviane Giampino, of HCFEA.
But while French adults are renowned for being among the world’s heaviest users of anti-depressants, the report countered the view that France had escaped the “Anglo-saxon” scourge of overmedication for children, said Ms Giampino. “The figures have doubled between 2010 and 2021, and that places us among the countries that prescribe the most in Europe,” she told Le Parisien.
Many of the drugs – 40 per cent prescribed by French GPS and up to 94 per cent in hospitals – are reserved for adults and have not received market authorisation for use on children.
“Medication is an easy way out,” warned Marie Rose Moro, a psychiatrist who wrote a report with similar warnings in 2019. “They often have significant side effects and are sometimes not suitable for the child’s brain,” she added.
“They treat kids like [farmers] treat earth with pesticides,” said Simon, the father of one teenager on Valium and Prozac to treat his aggressive and disruptive behaviour. “The drugs treat the problem but not the cause.”