Antidepressant drug prescriptions doubled in the 10 years to 2005, according to data from America. Powerful antipsychotic drug usage also increased, but psychotherapy and other talking cures such as cognitive behavioural therapy nearly halved. Of the 27 million Americans diagnosed with depression, just 19 per cent were offered any form of therapy.

During the period of the study, several new antidepressants were launched, which suggests doctors were being lobbied by the manufacturers to prescribe.

(Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, 2009; 66: 848).