A new study has challenged the view that GPs are overprescribing antidepressants.

A Scottish survey has found that, contrary to popular opinion, GPs are not overprescribing antidepressants, and states its results are globally comparable.

The study by the University of Aberdeen challenges the suggestion that, because the number of antidepressant prescriptions has significantly increased, GPs must be prescribing the drugs too readily.

However, the study found it is more likely GPs are initiating antidepressant treatments conservatively – out of the 897 patients surveyed in the study, only three were receiving antidepressants without a clear reason for taking them.

Ian Reid, Professor of Mental Health and leader of the research, explained: “As the statistics currently measure numbers of antidepressant prescriptions, crucially, they don’t tell us how many people are taking the drugs. If antidepressant doses increased, or the duration of treatment lengthened, the prescription statistic would rise without any change in the number of people being treated.”

The report studied the activities of 30 GPs and how they dealt with around 900 patients, who were attending the surgery for any reason and not specifically for depression.

Overall, it found that GPs did not prescribe antidepressants for around half of patients who showed significant signs of depression, because they did not detect it at that particular visit. In addition, some antidepressants were prescribed for reasons other than depression, such as the treatment of pain.

Professor Reid explained how the study could have global significance: “Our results are comparable not just with surveys in the UK, but as far afield as Sweden, Italy, and France. Depression is undertreated wherever researchers take the trouble to look.

“I think the Scottish Government’s policy [to reduce future antidepressant prescribing by 10%] is intended as a spur to increase the availability of non-drug treatments for depression, such as talking therapies. I’d heartily endorse that aim.

“However, in my view, it would have been better to set a target focusing on non-drug therapies, rather than on prescription volumes. Reducing one treatment does not necessarily promote another, and it may be that the use of a range of treatments, including antidepressants, needs to increase to improve quality of care.”

The study was published in the British Journal of General Practice.