Antidepressant prescriptions increase by 16 million in three years to 2005

WASHINGTON The number of prescriptions for antidepressants increased by 16 million between 2002 and 2005, a government report released Thursday shows.

The report, issued by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, found that psychiatrists wrote 29 percent of prescriptions for antidepressants, general practitioners wrote 23 percent, family practitioners wrote 21 percent and internal medicine specialists wrote 10 percent.

The agency used data from its Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which it began in 1996.