Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005–2008

Products - Data Briefs - Number 76 - October 2011


Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005–2008

Key findings
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2005–2008

Eleven percent of Americans aged 12 years and over take antidepressant medication.

Females are more likely to take antidepressants than are males, and non-Hispanic white persons are more likely to take antidepressants than are non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American persons.

About one-third of persons with severe depressive symptoms take antidepressant medication.

More than 60% of Americans taking antidepressant medication have taken it for 2 years or longer, with 14% having taken the medication for 10 years or more.

Less than one-third of Americans taking one antidepressant medication and less than one-half of those taking multiple antidepressants have seen a mental health professional in the past year.

Antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008 and the most frequently used by persons aged 18–44 years (1). From 1988–1994 through 2005–2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400% (1).