year,adults_on_antidepressants_pct,source_detail,additional_notes
1988-1994,~2.5,NCHS NHANES,"Baseline period; SSRIs introduced late 1980s (Prozac 1987)"
1990-1992,~2.5,"National Comorbidity Survey; Olfson et al 2009","Rate of antidepressant treatment increased >4x between early 1990s and early 2000s"
2001-2003,~10,"National Comorbidity Survey-Replication; Olfson et al 2009","4x increase from early 1990s"
2005-2008,10.1,"NCHS Data Brief 76 (2011); NHANES","400% increase from 1988-1994; 3rd most common Rx drug in US; most common for ages 18-44"
2009-2010,10.6,"NCHS Data Brief 377 (2020); NHANES",
2011-2014,12.7,"NCHS Data Brief 283 (2017); NHANES","68% taking for 2+ years; 14% for 10+ years; 23% of women 40-59"
2015-2018,13.2,"NCHS Data Brief 377 (2020); NHANES","Women 17.7% vs men 8.4%; non-Hispanic white 16.6% vs Black 7.8% vs Hispanic 6.5% vs Asian 2.8%"
2017-2018,13.8,"NCHS NHANES; also cited in original essay","Up from 10.6% in 2009-2010"
2020,~14.5,Estimated from trend + COVID prescribing surge,"COVID drove significant increase in Rx"
2023,~15.5,Estimated from trend + reporting,"MDD prevalence rose from 6.1% (1996) to 10.4% (2015) per MEPS"