The increase in the use of sedatives and tranquillisers among Irish people, as reported in the third National Drug Prevalence Survey, is not a surprise. With the country in an established economic depression, high unemployment rates and increased pressure on personal finances, all socio-economic groups are, in the words of Dr Fiona Weldon, clinical director of the Rutland Centre, “trying to keep the show on the road”.
What may come as a surprise to some is the high use of these drugs among professionals and senior managers. At 18 per cent the lifetime use of tranquillisers and sedatives by professionals and senior civil servants is almost on a par with the use of similar medications by people in receipt of social welfare payments.
Sedatives and tranquillisers, mainly from the benzodiazepine family of drugs, include medications such as Valium and Xanax. Anti-depressant drugs such as Prozac and Seroxat are prescribed for moderate to severe levels of depression. The use of anti-depressants was relatively stable at 5 per cent among 15 to 64 year-olds in 2011 compared with some 4 per cent in the previous 2007 survey. But there was a 40 per cent increase in the use of sedatives and tranquillisers among adults.
Source: Irish Independent, 27/10/2012
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