Recent data shows that overdoses involving antidepressants have been climbing each year from 1999 to 2022 in the U.S.

Randall Tackett, a professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia, said he believes there are a few reasons more antidepressant overdoses are being reported.

“I think there’s a number of things that come into play with the antidepressants. Number one is, I think we’re seeing more of them actually being prescribed,” Tackett said.

Tackett said another reason could be because people are taking antidepressants with other drugs.

“Antidepressants are not uncommonly prescribed with narcotics and pain-relieving drugs so you have a good mix there that could be potentially an issue,” said Tackett.

According to analysis of CDC overdose data, suicides involving antidepressants increased 2% each year from 1999 to 2015. Since then, Scott Thompson, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado, said they have been steady.

“But since 2015, the number of suicides attributed to antidepressants has been truly stable,” Thompson said.

Thompson said this isn’t the case for other drugs over the same period.

“The number of deaths attributed to opioids has increased twenty-fold. So again, antidepressants are largely safe,” said Thompson.