Abstract
A triplicate prescription with a “tab” for relevant information has enabled the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to study prescriptions by general practitioners in the Australian Morbidity Survey. The survey has revealed that original prescriptions of antidepressant drugs by general practitioners in Australia have reached the number of one and a half million per year. Eighty per cent of these prescriptions were for the treatment of mental disorders, most commonly depressive neurosis. Twenty per cent were for a great variety of diseases other than mental disorders. Tricyclic compounds comprised 99% of these antidepressant prescriptions, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors less than 1%. The drugs were given far more frequently to women than to men and the highest usage was in elderly women over 65 years of age. Many women in the childbearing years received prescriptions for tricyclic antidepressants and many of these women would have been pregnant while taking the drugs.
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