During the quarantine in Russia, sales of antidepressants and tranquilizers have sharply increased - the study of "New"

In September, the second wave of coronavirus began in Russia. The situation is alarming: almost every day the number of cases beats spring records. In addition to direct risks for human health, the pandemic has led to an exacerbation of psychological problems. In the spring, sales of antidepressants and tranquilizers, as well as the frequency of circulation to psychologists, have increased sharply in Russia. In May, according to VTsIOM, up to 87% of Russians were alarming due to pandemia and crisis, including 20% ​​were in a state of severe stress. In addition, one of the side effects of the disease itself can be post -traumatic syndrome. The "new" understood how the pandemic affected the mental health of Russians.

Alarming March 2020

The first case of coronavirus in Russia was registered in early March. After some time, an avalanche -like increase in incidence began, and the authorities declared an increased readiness regime in the country (read - quarantine).

In parallel with this, according to the IQVIA large analytical company, in Russia there was an explosion of sales of drugs for the nervous system. This could be explained by the fact that spring and autumn are periods of exacerbations of mental illness. For example, last year sales increased sharply in April.

“From year to year, we observe the growth of records in all specialties in March and October -November. This year, the picture has slightly changed, ”comments the representative of the SberZdorovye Doctors Service (previously Docdoc).

But even for the exacerbation period, the numbers in 2020 grew up too much. If in 2019 the peak month - April - differed from the rest by 12.6%, then this year in March the demand for drugs for the nervous system increased by 34%immediately. Sales of antipsychotics increased by 35.9%compared to last year, recipe antidepressants - by 34.6%, and tranquilizers - by 26%. In general, over six months, sales increased by 12.3% compared to the first half of 2019.

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What is it and what is it to drink

Neuroleptics, tranquilizers, antidepressants and normotimics (mood stabilizers) are the main groups of drugs for the nervous system.

Envisolics are drugs for the treatment of psychoses and serious mental disorders. They are issued at the pharmacy points of psychological dispensaries and sold in retail only by recipe.

Transquilizers are potent drugs to reduce emotional tension, anxiety and for general relaxation of the body. Ordinary sedatives and sleeping pills are not included in this group.

Sedative - medicinal substances to reduce the excitability of the central nervous system, as a rule, based on plant agents.

Since 2015, neuroleptics, tranquilizers and antidepressants have been growing in sales almost continuously. For 4 years, the volume of the market for antidepressants increased by almost 2 times. The consumption of tranquilizers increased one and a half times, but the growth was even, without sharp bursts. The antipsychotics in 2018 and 2019 decreased, but this year the amount of sales will become noticeably higher than in previous years, even if sales falling now.

More than 90% of psychotropic drugs are prescription, although there are pharmacies in which, at the lack of a recipe, they will look through the fingers. Many drugs from these three groups have serious side effects - from dizziness and slow reactions to amnesia. However, the drugs that are now trying to treat Kovid also affect the nervous system (for example, dexamethasone) in addition to the general negative psychosomatics of the sick.

Buy nerves for the future

The growth of sales of drugs does not mean that mental illness has spread more during this time. Such sharp fluctuations can indicate the general concern of people or the desire to prevent a deficiency of the drug prescribed, because any psychotropic drug must be drunk strictly at the prescribed course.

“Some of the particularly enterprising patients hastened to buy for the future: in February and March, they wrote at key forums in mental disorders that China will give a logistics hole, they will introduce quarantine, we will not be able to get recipes and remain without tablets,” shares Ilya Antipin, a psychiatrist, consultant of the H-Clinic university clinic.

The fact that during periods of acute stress in people the motivation appears to be more responsible to the course of taking drugs also played a role. Very often, taking psychotropic drugs is associated with low commitment. People, having felt an improvement (or, conversely, without feeling significant changes), cease to take a drug, although, as a rule, such medications are drunk courses.

“With antidepressants up to 30%, one way or another should be characterized as patients with low commitment,” says Ilya Antipin.

Tranquilizers are sometimes taken on an ongoing basis, which is why sensitivity to them subsequently decreases. That is, the sales of these drugs are generally subject to both seasonal and subjective fluctuations and find patterns mainly in situations of large -scale social shocks. In general sales of drugs for the nervous system and, moreover, they occupy a very small share.

“We believe that the main increase in sales is associated with the doctor’s recommendations for the duration of therapy up to 6 months: this group of drugs, unlike other groups, does not purchase in reserve,” says Evgeny Chalki, head of the SPECIALTY CARE unit of Servier.

Netflix and sleeping pills

The fact that the pandemic and its consequences negatively affected public with mental problems is not even explained. But those who had not previously noticed mental disorders were also injured.

When mental fatigue accumulates, but there are no traumatic problems, people are in no hurry to contact serious specialists, such as psychiatrists, and take potent medicines. First, they use sedative, sleeping pills, including those that do not relate to drugs (for example, strong alcohol - in the first half of 2020, sales of alcoholic beverages increased by 5% compared to 2019, from 4.8 billion liters to 5.05 billion).

So, in March 2020, there was a jump in sedative and sleeping pills: the top 5 of popular drugs increased by 35.5%. “In March, people stored with drugs, the recipes for which were prescribed earlier. But later, since July, the patients' flow has grown, there are more exacerbations, ”comments the Danish company Lundbeck, one of the largest manufacturers of drugs for the treatment of disorders of the central nervous system.

“The growth of prescription antidepressants amounted to 26% in relation to the same period last year (in the first 8 months of 2020), there is greater demand in the segment of the anti -aircraft component of therapy.”

In the search for Yandex, the peak of the request “Psychologist Consultation” came in February-42.9 thousand, 16% more than in January and than in February 2019 (then there were 26.9 thousand). In March and April 2020, there was a decline in this request, in May-again a small rise. The frequency of the request “Psychologist online” also increased: in March last year there were 26.5 thousand requests, in March 2020 - 38.8, and the peak fell on June 40.7 thousand.

In Google, the popularity of the request “Psychologist Consultation” hesitated, but grew slightly. For comparison: the peak of “Netflix” requests came at the end of March - early April and met almost 45 times more often than requests about psychological assistance.

Why do you need a psychologist when there are series?

"After Covid, people cannot get out of bed"

With all the difficulties of self -isolation, it seems that the Russians came to their senses relatively quickly. Sales of drugs for the psyche - both prescription and over -the -counter - were abnormally high for only one month, and then fell even below the level of the previous period.

The wave of the delayed demand for the services of psychologists was at the moment when the departments only opened, and people who could not get there for a long time came for recipes or solved the accumulated problems. But it seems that now the flow of patients has normalized.

Another category of new customers of psychologists is people who themselves have been ill with coronavirus. “The defeat of the central nervous system for Covid is quite strong. People because of mental asthenia actually cannot get out of bed. Logically, patients were supposed to appear with problems because of this. But so far I had only two patients with such complaints. In one case-for the first time arising anxious-depressive disorder after Covid, and in one-on the previously existing, ”explains Ilya Antipin.

Data, to talk about the long -term consequences of Covid for the nervous system, is still not enough. It is known that other pathogens of the coronavirus family (Mers, SARS-COV) led to increased anxiety and depressive states, and in older people-to hallucinations and delirium.

However, such states and lead to long -term changes in the nervous system can also lead to the body's own reaction (cytokine storm and abnormal thrombosis). The study by Coronerv (a joint project of British medical and scientific organizations) notes that 17% of the observed patients who suffered Covid was first diagnosed with a mental disorder.

It is still unclear that the same picture of the exciting demand for psychotropic drugs will be repeated this fall. Most likely, sales will continue to grow, and neuroleptics will be shown the largest volume, which will be followed by tranquilizers and antidepressants.

Lyubov Popovets, Alexander Osipov - especially for "New"