(2/29, Garzella) reports, “A USA TODAY analysis of Medicaid data for the 60 most used psychiatric drugs showed a growing number of people sought mental health treatment and medication during the pandemic as it pushed people into isolation and dismantled support systems.” Additionally, “the analysis also revealed a lingering effect of the pandemic: Mental health-related prescriptions rose further in 2022, up 12% from 2019, outpacing the less than 1% growth in overall prescriptions.” Dr. Smita Das, chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s addiction council, said, “This is just coming to a point where for many people, it’s been unmanageable.” But “one silver lining of the pandemic…said” Dr. Das, is, “We all started to talk about mental health more and bring it to the forefront.”
Related Links:
— “Mental health crisis fuels the post-pandemic rise in medication use,”Cecilia Garzella, USA Today , February 29, 2024