More people suffer from depression in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Antidepressant and antipsychotic use has risen significantly in Turkey along with the growing number of people who see psychiatrists, a local paper Turkey Daily News reported here on Wednesday.

The paper reported that antidepressant consumption jumped to 26million boxes in 2008 as against 14 million boxes in 2003, raising the value of the sector to 12.1 billion Turkish Liras (about 8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008 from 4.8 billion liras in 2002.

The daily quoted Halis Ulas, foreign relations secretary of the Turkish Psychiatry Society, as saying that there has been a boom in recent years in antidepressant and antipsychotic use.

However, Ulas said there is no need to worry about national mental health because the drugs are not being consumed because of an increase in actual need but because of their rising popularity.

The reason was effective marketing by drug companies and their collaboration with doctors, the secretary said.

The drug industry spends 15 percent of its budget on research and development while promotional or publicity works receive twice as much. The poor health policies in practice are also another factor of the increase in drug consumption.

Ulas added that the insufficient number of psychiatrists in Turkey causes doctors from other medical fields to prescribe inappropriate drugs for inappropriate diagnoses, which is another reason for the increase in the use of antidepressants.(1 U.S. dollar=1.47 Turkey Liras)