Newly published official statistics show that antidepressant prescribing in Northern Ireland has increased by 1.8% in the past year, with more than one in five people (21%) now receiving antidepressants during 2025/26.

New Script for Mental Health says the figures reveal a continuing trend towards the medicalisation of distress, with medication increasingly becoming the main response to widespread suffering while the social and structural causes of distress remain insufficiently addressed.

The campaign says the figures highlight the urgent need for a different approach to mental health—one that combines appropriate clinical care with action on the conditions that shape people’s lives, including poverty, inequality, trauma, discrimination, isolation and lack of power.

The latest figures show:

• 21% of the population received at least one antidepressant prescription in 2025/26.

• Women remain around 60% more likely than men to receive antidepressants, with over one in four women receiving antidepressants compared with around one in six men. Four out of every 10 women aged 45-64 years of age have been prescribed antidepressants in the past year.

• People living in the most deprived communities remain more than one-and-a-half times as likely to receive antidepressants compared with those in the least deprived communities.

• Significant geographical inequalities persist, with some communities experiencing substantially higher prescribing rates than others. In Derry and Strabane District Council 25.5% of its population were prescribed antidepressants last year, compared with 17.3% in the Mid Ulster Council area.

Ger McParland, activist with New Script for Mental Health, said:

“Year after year, we are seeing the medicalisation of distress increasing, while many of the conditions that drive distress remain unchanged.

“These figures are not simply about prescriptions. They tell us something about our society and where distress is concentrated.

“Women, people living in poverty and communities experiencing the greatest inequalities continue to carry the heaviest burden. When the highest levels of antidepressant prescribing are found in communities facing the greatest inequality, we need to ask deeper questions about what is driving that distress”.

New Script for Mental Health says antidepressants are an important option and can be helpful for many people but argues that medication should not become the default response to distress that is rooted in social, economic and relational circumstances.

Ms Parland said:

“This is not an argument against medication. The question is whether we are relying too heavily on medical solutions for problems that also require social solutions.

“If someone is struggling because of poverty, isolation, trauma, racism, violence, discrimination or lack of connection, then we need responses that address those realities as well as providing clinical support when it is needed.”

People need information, choice and informed consent

New Script for Mental Health says that alongside reducing over-reliance on medication, people prescribed antidepressants must have access to clear, balanced information and meaningful informed consent.

The campaign says people should be supported to understand the potential benefits, risks and alternatives associated with taking antidepressants, including possible side effects and difficulties some people experience when reducing or stopping medication.

Recent developments in England, where patient and family experiences have informed a review of antidepressant safety information by the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), underline the importance of listening to people with lived experience and ensuring that information about medicines reflects people’s real-world experiences. The review was launched after concerns were raised by families and patients that current safety warnings in the Patient Information Leaflets (PIL) for these medicines did not clearly explain certain side effects – specifically suicidal behaviours and sexual dysfunction that may continue after treatment is stopped. Based on the group’s recommendations, the CMH has advised that the wording on the PILs provided with antidepressant medication should be strengthened to provide greater clarity on the risk of suicidal behaviour.  

Ms Parland said:

“If we are serious about a human rights-based approach to mental health, then choice and consent must be central.

“People deserve to have the information they need to make decisions about their own care—including honest conversations about potential benefits, risks, alternatives and what support is available.

“Listening to people with lived experience must be at the heart of how we develop mental health services.”

Give 5: a wellbeing rights approach

New Script for Mental Health says its Give 5: Steps to a Wellbeing Rights Framework offers a practical alternative by focusing on the conditions that help people and communities to thrive.

Launched by Professor Dainius Pūras, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, on World Mental Health Day 2024, Give 5 is based on five principles:

Connect. Be Active. Take Notice. Keep Learning. Give People Dignity.

Give 5 recognises that wellbeing is built through relationships, belonging, meaningful activity, purpose, respect and having a voice.

It calls for investment in community-based supports and a wider range of responses to distress beyond a predominantly medical model.

Sara Boyce, Campaign Organiser with New Script for Mental Health said

“Give 5 asks a different question. Instead of asking only ‘what is wrong with people?’, it asks ‘what has happened to people, what do people need, and what conditions allow people to live well?’

“People need connection, purpose, dignity and power—not just support after they reach crisis point.

“A healthier society is one where people have the opportunity to thrive in the first place.”

Public health needs public power

The figures come following the Department of Health’s This Is Our Health public conversation, which recognised that health is shaped by wider factors including housing, poverty, employment, education and the environment.

New Script for Mental Health welcomed this recognition but has argued that acknowledging the causes of poor health is not enough unless there is action to change the inequalities and power imbalances that shape people’s lives.

In its response, “Public Health Without Public Power?”, the campaign argued that prevention must mean changing the conditions that create distress—not simply encouraging individuals to cope with them.

Ms Boyce said:

“The Department of Health has rightly acknowledged that health is shaped by social conditions. The next steps now is for the Department of Health and the Executive to act on that understanding.

“The latest antidepressant figures show the gap between recognising the causes of distress and changing the conditions that produce it.

“Public health needs public power. Communities need a meaningful say in the decisions that affect their wellbeing, and prevention must mean tackling the root causes of distress as well as supporting people when they are struggling.”

New Script for Mental Health is calling on the Department of Health to use the latest prescribing data as a catalyst for a new approach—one that combines appropriate clinical support with human rights, community action, prevention and action on the causes of distress.

ENDS

 Notes to editors

1. New Script for Mental Health is a grassroots campaign advocating for a human rights-based, trauma-informed approach to mental health in Northern Ireland.

2. Give 5: Steps to a Wellbeing Rights Framework was launched by Professor Dainius Pūras, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, on World Mental Health Day 2024. It builds on the principles of connection, compassion, community and choice. It has secured the support of all six main political parties in Stormont.

3. For more information on the Commission on Human Medicines        ( CHM) Review to inform the Medicines an Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on antidepressant safety information, click here.

For further information contact Sara Boyce, Campaign Organiser, New Script for Mental Health sara@pprproject.org or 07864074235