New research from the University of Warwick and the IZA Institute in Bonn shows that 10% of middle-aged Europeans took antidepressants in 2010. The researchers looked in detail at the lives of a randomly selected sample of nearly 30,000 Europeans living in 27 countries.
The co-author of the study, Professor Andrew Oswald, described the results as concerning and said: "Antidepressants are a relatively new kind of commodity. We are only starting to get proper data on who takes them. But as we live in the richest and safest era in the history of humans, perhaps we are going to have to ask ourselves why one in ten of Europe's middle-aged citizens need a pill to cope with life. That is an awful lot of people relying on chemical happiness."
