Quebecers and Canadians are increasingly turning to medication to restore their mental health. Those under 30 are particularly affected by this trend.
Between 2019 and 2021, claims for mental health-related drugs increased by 24% among those aged 30 and under. The adult segment between 30 and 39 years old also saw a 13% increase in requests for tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs.
These data are taken froman annual report of Sun Life, Canada’s largest private claims payer. No data is available as to the volume of these claims and the amount paid for these drugs.
“Those under 30 have grown up in a culture that is much more open to mental health. They talk about it more quickly, seek help more quickly,” observes Marie-Chantal Côté, vice-president of group benefits at Sun Life, to explain this spectacular leap. Reimbursements for therapies have also exploded during the pandemic. Claims “for mental health paramedics” have increased by 50% in two years for those under 35.
However, these claims remain stable for Canadians over 45, this analysis indicates.
Depression is the most resource-consuming illness, with almost half of all mental health claims. However, new requests for the treatment of depression have been declining in number over the past three years. Conversely, “adjustment disorders” and “anxiety disorders” are gaining importance from year to year, according to the sample of 1.5 million Canadians.
Other studies confirm these fragmentary data.Prescriptions to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or depression continue to increase year over year, and prescriptions for depression increased between 2020 and 2022, according to data from TELUS Health. “Depression particularly affects young people under the age of 25, among whom there is an increase of almost 23% in prescriptions in 2021, which is in addition to a 10% increase [en 2020] », we noted in July 2022.
Thus, the consumption of drugs such as Vyvanse and Concerta, which mitigate neuro-atypical disorders (such as ADHD and narcolepsy), now exceeds that of drugs used to treat cancer.
It should be noted that these data relate to all of Canada, but that mental health problems are unevenly distributed from coast to coast. The Atlantic provinces show the highest levels of anxiety of all the provinces (15%), while Quebec reports the lowest levels of anxiety (7%) and depression (4%). according to Mental Health Research Canada.
