Antidepressant use among Americans up.

The number of Americans taking prescription antidepressants nearly doubled in only a decade, while the numbers seeing a psychiatrist continued to fall, according to a study in the August Archives of General Psychiatry.

The study was based on an analysis of antidepressant use data from the 1996 and 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. The rate of antidepressant treatment increased from about 5.8 percent in 1996 to 10 percent in 2005. The study found significant increases in antidepressant use across all socioeconomic groups examined except among black Americans, who had comparatively low rates of use at 3.6 percent in 1996 and 4.5 percent in 2005. And while antidepressant use increased among Hispanics, it remained comparatively low at 3.7 percent in 1996 and 5.2 percent in 2005.

The study found that among people taking antidepressant medication, the percentage of patients treated for depression remained relatively stable at 26.25 percent in 1996 and 26.85 percent in 2005. The percentage of patients receiving antipsychotic medications rose from 5.4 percent to 8.8 percent, and those undergoing psychotherapy dropped from 31.5 percent to 19.9 percent.