SSRI antidepressants are often 'carelessly prescribed'

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are among the most widely prescribed antidepressants in the world.

Drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft and Lexapro are used to treat depression and anxiety disorders in millions of people.

But some experts believe we have become over reliant on such drugs and that that has led some doctors to treat ordinary human distress as a medical illness.

"We have medicalized all emotional distress," said Allen Frances, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine in the US.

"Eighty percent of antidepressants in the US are carelessly prescribed by rushed primary doctors as an easy way to get patients out of the office in 15 minutes," Frances told DW.