Anxiety and Depression: Different Sides of the Same Coin? An Examination of Trends in the Medicalization of Both Disorders in Belgium

Abstract Background: While medicalization trends of feelings of anxiety and depression have been described in great detail, an empirical examination of these trends is to date lacking. The current study fills this gap in the literature by mapping shifts in type of medicine use for feelings of anxiety and depression, as well as by examining whether a social gradient mediated these suggested shifts. Methods: We analyzed data from three repeated cross-sectional waves (2004, 2008, and 2013) of the Belgian National Health Interview Survey (HIS). Multinomial logistic regression were applied to estimate shifts in psychotropic drugs use over the observed period. Results: Using an ideal-typical distinction between traditional anxiety drugs (psycholeptics) and depression drugs (psychoanaleptics), we found that treatment methods for feelings of anxiety and depression were converging. Persons having anxiety feelings consumed less psycholeptic drugs, in favor of psychoanaleptic drugs throughout the observed period. Moreover, these shifts were partially mediated by educational level. Persons with higher education consumed less psychotropic drugs than those with lower education, suggesting trends of demedicalization for feelings of anxiety and depression.Conclusion: Our study shows that psycholeptics increasingly give way to psychoanaleptics in the treatment of both anxiety and depression, despite several scientists calling their effectiveness for both disorders into question.