#Britain is becoming hooked on anti-depressant medicines – dubbed #HappyPills, according to new research.
Prescription rates have more than DOUBLED in 15 years, rocketing the UK to fourth among 29 Western nations.
Britons take nearly twice as many of the ‘happy pills’ as counterparts in France, Italy and the Netherlands.
Experts claim that one of the reasons is that patients were demanding a quick fix to avoid feeling down.
Others blamed GPs for fobbing off depressed patients with pills because waiting lists for in- depth treatment were too long.
The UK rate of consumption for anti-depressants is 94.2 doses a day for every 1,000 inhabitants up from 37.6 doses in 2000, according to the Economic Co-operation and Development.
The research body’s study said patients were increasingly willing to ask for help, meaning every rich nation had seen a rise in use of drugs such as Prozac.
But it added: “There is significant variation in consumption of anti-depressants between countries.
Carmine Pariante, a professor of biological psychiatry at King’s College London, said society was becoming less tolerant of emotional pain.
He told the Daily Mail: “If you think of the way death or illness is represented in popular culture, we are trying to protect ourselves as much as possible from negative emotion.”
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