August 03, 2023

Antidepressants on the Rise


Antidepressants on the Rise
"A gram is better than a damn." Ragesoss, Wikimedia Commons

A recent report finds that antidepressant use in Russia, and especially in St. Petersburg, has increased sharply over the last year.

According to online outlet Bumaga, since 2021, Russian sales of antidepressants have increased by 66 percent. In St. Petersburg, in the first half of 2023 alone, use has grown by 39 percent.

In addition, sales of short-term treatments for depression have increased by 27 percent, and sales of sleeping pills have gone up by 22 percent.

The report also relates that St. Petersburgers spent a total of R1.278 billion ($13.6 million) in early 2023 psychiatric medicines. That's 22 percent more than the same period last year, with a 3 percent average price increase. In total, residents of St. Petersburg have bought 509,800 packs of psychiatric drugs in the first half of 2023.

While St. Petersburg is known for a northerly climate that is not always conducive to good mental health (it produced the likes of Dostoyevsky and Gogol, after all), analysts argue that many public affairs are likely causing this rise. Experts point to the ongoing war in Ukraine, drone strikes, and the economic impact of the conflict as causing hardship for Russian, and especially St. Petersburg, citizens.

 

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