Depressive Illnesess: Young People
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many under 30s have been prescribed medication for depression.
Answered by Dr Zubir Ahmed
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) does not collect data on the clinical indication of a prescription. Given this, it is not possible to deduce which prescriptions were prescribed for depression. Many drugs have multiple uses, for example, some drugs that are classified as antidepressants can be issued to treat migraine, chronic pain, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and a range of other conditions.
The NHS BSA publishes statistics on mental health, which includes British National Formulary section 4.3 ‘Antidepressants drugs’, prescribed in England that are then dispensed in the community in England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands.
The following table shows the number of ‘unique patients’ in the latest quarterly statistics July-September 2025, aged 29 years old and under that were prescribed and dispensed antidepressants:
Time period | Total number of unique patients |
July to September 2025 | 768,961 |
Source: Medicines Used in Mental Health – England, published by NHS England, available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/medicines-used-mental-health-england
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