Study: Brexit-related anxiety led to increased prescriptions for antidepressants in the UK



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November 21 (UPI) – Anti-depressant orders among the British have soared after Britain decided to break with the European Union in 2016, according to a new study.

Experts say that this could have come from uncertainty about the future of Britain.

To determine if Brexit was causing the rise, researchers at King's College London and Harvard University analyzed prescription data in England, for each month of July between 2011 and 2016, in 326 polling zones. They compared the prescriptions of antidepressants to those of drugs not associated with the treatment of depression.

While prescriptions for both types of medications increased before Brexit, prescriptions for antidepressants increased by more than 13% after leaving.

"All this uncertainty will cause stress, anxiety and worry, and some people may feel more depressed because of this," CNN economics lecturer Sotiris Vandoros told CNN. Health at the King's Business School. .

"This study adds to previous studies that showed that events at the national level could have an effect on people's mental health or mood," Vandoros said.

Another Vandoros study highlights greater national anxiety related to austerity.

The referendum on Brexit has led Britain to separate from the rest of the European Union, an initiative that, in the opinion of some, could lead to an economic disaster for the country.

"All this uncertainty will cause stress, anxiety and worry, and some people may feel more depressed because of it," Vandoros told CNN.

In addition, a United Nations report last week indicates that the introduction of the UK's austerity policy has helped to depress 14 million people, a fifth of the population, into poverty .

Vandoros said that people without financial or emotional safety net are usually the ones who suffer the most from this type of uncertainty.

The UK website Money and Mental Health says that about 25% of people with money problems also have debts.

Following the 2016 referendum in which 30 million Britons voted, the Mental Health Foundation wrote on its website: "Many of those who voted on leave will likely experience different but no less acute levels of upheaval. there will probably be a sense of dissonance in getting the desired result and yet stung by the disappointment or resentment expressed by friends and family who have taken a different point of view. "

Kamaldeep S. Bhui, a professor of cultural psychiatry and epidemiology at Queen Mary University in London, said that while the Vandoros study was "not a perfect method," he stated that it was an important sign that "politicians must pay more attention to the decision". do, because it can affect health. "

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