Fewer young adults are receiving antidepressants

Published 17 May 2024 at 13.26

Domestic. The number of new cases of mental illness among young adults fell last year. The proportion who started treatment with antidepressants also decreased slightly.
– We do not yet know if this could indicate a trend break, says Peter Salmi, investigator at the National Board of Health and Welfare.

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This week the National Board of Health and Welfare published a new report on the development of mental illness among children and young people, which shows that the number of new cases of mental illness among young adults in age 18-24 decreased slightly in 2023.

In connection with this, the prescription of antidepressants also decreased. Something that could indicate that the sharp increase in mental illness in the group, which has been going on for a long time, could be on the way to slowing down.

– However, it is still too early to say whether the development will hold in itself and it is important to follow the continued development, says Peter Salmi. In the long term, an actual reduction in the number of young people who become ill can stop the continuous increase in mental illness that we have seen for a long time.

Among children aged 10-17, however, there is no corresponding reduction in the number of new cases and counts if you combine the number of new cases with those diagnosed earlier, a continued increase is seen overall.

Among boys and girls, aged 10-17, the proportion with a psychiatric diagnosis was 13 percent for boys and 12 percent for girls – i.e. more than every ten children. Among young men aged 18-24, the proportion who had a psychiatric diagnosis was 12 percent. Every fifth young woman, 21 percent, had some form of mental illness.