This is an ABC podcast.

Just a heads up, this show discusses self-harm and suicide.

Take care while listening.

From 2008 to 2018, the number of young people being prescribed antidepressants has exploded,

increasing by 66%.

And there's data to suggest that last year, among the lockdowns and anxiety of the pandemic,

that figure ticked even higher.

In last week's episode of All in the Mind, we looked at the mental health of teenagers and

how social media, the pandemic, and other factors

have impacted them. This week, we're going to look at another big issue among young people,

and that's antidepressant medications. We're going to hear from young people themselves

about their mental health journeys and what it's like to be on antidepressants.

And we uncover the findings from a major review into antidepressant use in young people.

All in the Mind producer James Bullen has this week's episode.

I was just really, really sad.

I also had a lot of trouble going to school. I had a lot of school-based anxiety. I didn't know how to express or process what was going on in my mind,

and that's how it sort of came out. Is it a fear of going to school and certain other social situations that I found kind of

overwhelming. Cassandra Prigg is a 26-year-old woman from Victoria. In the beginning, I used to

complain of sort of stomach aches and physical symptoms and my mum took me to the doctor and

was quite concerned that there was actually

something wrong with my kidneys and it took a while for everyone and myself included to sort of

recognise and accept that this was more in the mind I guess more of an anxiety issue than a physical

...