ANP / Dutch Height / Richard Brocken
NOS News•
The number of young women taking antidepressants has increased sharply during the corona period. General practitioners are prescribing almost 20 percent more medicines to this group of patients for anxiety and depression than two years ago, according to research by the Nivel care knowledge center.
The increase started at the beginning of 2021, in the second lockdown, and has continued after that, pharmaceutical care program leader Liset van Dijk van Nivel said in the newspaper. NOS Radio 1 News. An increase can also be seen among young men, but it is ‘only’ 11 percent. In the Netherlands, approximately 0.2 percent of young people aged 15 to 24 use antidepressants.
Van Dijk thinks that the increase in this age group is partly caused by the impact that the pandemic has had. “The measures have hit them hard, because they almost had to shut down a lot of their social lives for a while.” No major changes were seen in other age groups.
The researchers are not exactly sure why use rose less among young men than among young women. “It may be that social contacts are even more important for women. It may also be that women go to the GP with their complaints earlier. There may be various explanations for this.”
Young people spared
Van Dijk believes that young people should be spared as much as possible in the event of any future lockdowns. “They seem to be hit very hard. When taking measures, I would certainly look at how it affects this group.” As far as she is concerned, schools and universities should remain open so that they can still keep in touch with friends and fellow students.
After the end of the lockdowns, the use of antidepressants has not decreased. According to her, this has to do with the fact that it takes a while before you can reduce use. Recently, however, other causes have also started to play a role, such as inflation and the shortage of affordable housing. “These are also things that affect young people.”