A report in the i paper yesterday by Paul Gallagher, Health Correspondent said that prescriptions are rising much faster than rates of psychosis. England has had a modest rise in psychotic symptoms in recent years while antipsychotic medication use doubled over a seven-year period according to a study by researchers at UCL and City, University of London.
The research found that antipsychotic medication use approximately doubled between 2007 and 2014, from an estimated 0.5% to 1.2% of people in England. The proportion of people reporting psychotic symptoms increased from 5.6% to 6.8% in the same time period. The study used data from over 20,000 people representative of the general population in England. NHS data going up to 2017 suggests that prescriptions continued to increase beyond 2014. The full report can be seen in Schizophrenia Research.
