More and more antidepressant prescriptions - numbers doubled in ten years

Antidepressants: number of prescriptions has doubled - women particularly affected

A recent study has shown that prescriptions of antidepressants have doubled over the past decade. Women are therefore particularly hard hit by mental illness.

More and more people are taking antidepressants

In the past, research has shown that more and more patients worldwide are taking antidepressants. The use of antidepressants in children has also risen sharply in some countries. In Germany, the number of prescriptions for such drugs has also increased sharply: As the current Health Report 2018 from Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) indicates, working women and men received an average of 13.5 daily doses of medication for depression last year. In 2007 it was only 6.8. The drug volume of women with 16.9 daily doses was significantly higher than that of men with 10.6 daily doses.

As the current Health Report 2018 of the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) indicates, the prescriptions of antidepressants have doubled in the last ten years. (Image: monropic / fotolia.com)

Mental illness more common reason for absenteeism

As the cash register writes in a message, the numbers on absenteeism confirm this trend.

For example, in 2017, women lost an average of 3.42 days per year due to mental health problems in the job, compared to 2.11 days for men.

"The report shows that mental illness among women is the main reason why they can not go to work due to illness," said Wiebke Arps, expert for health reporting at TK.

"In men, mental disorders, after the diseases of the musculoskeletal system, the second leading cause of disability."

Huge load at work

The reasons for mental illness are varied and individual.

Stress in the workplace can be a factor that favors a mental illness. High workload, time pressure, constant availability, limited scope for decision-making and again and again the adaptation to new processes and processes:

All this can, if there is no balance, lead to a mental disorder, burnout or depression.

Keep employees healthy in the long term

To make sure that it does not get that far, employers are required to develop solutions that keep employees healthy in the long term. Occupational Health Management (WHM) can help.

"In addition to the classic measures such as healthy workplace design, exercise and relaxation courses, executives in workplace health promotion are of particular importance," explains Wiebke Arps.

"Managers have an important role model function. In addition, their leadership behavior contributes to whether employees accept their workplace and the constant changes as a challenge or experience them as overburdened, "says the expert. (Ad)