Almost 12 per cent of the warmlanders take some form of antidepressant and among women the proportion is even greater. In Hagfors and Munkfors, almost every fifth woman is medicated.

Stockholm County is at the bottom, where less than nine percent of residents have been prescribed antidepressants.

"Regional differences are not so much due to the fact that people are depressed in different places, but more about how doctors prescribe different drugs and how patients seek help," says Mikael Tiger, psychiatrist and researcher at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

That only 20 people in Kiruna and Södertälje take antidepressant medication thinks he sounds low.

- There is probably an underwriting there. It is a bit smaller than you might imagine based on how common these diseases are, says Mikael Tiger.

Bo Runeson is a suicide researcher and professor of psychiatry at Karolinska Institutet. He believes that the reason for the regional disparities has not been thoroughly investigated, but he believes that one reason for the high prescription of antidepressants is that people do not have access to other forms of treatment.

- We know that in Stockholm there is better access to care, faster contact with health care. There are more private alternatives with the opportunity to reach a psychologist, a psychotherapist, in a better way in a larger city, says Bo Runeson.

Värmland Grums has had the highest proportion of suicides in Sweden over the past ten years. At the county level, only Jämtland and Gotland counties had more suicides per thousand inhabitants between 2013 and 2017.

Bo Runeson imagines that this is related to social differences.

"When it comes to the combination of high prescribing of antidepressants and the occurrence of suicide, it is more difficult to understand, more than sometimes that treatment is not enough to prevent suicide," he says.

Direct report · Why do you think the prescription is highest in Värmland?

Post

2 tim14.20

After all, there is not enough therapy to offer anywhere in Sweden. Unfortunately, they do not think about what happens in the brain when you take these preparations year in and year out!

Birgitta

3 tim13.17

It is a way for doctors to alleviate the problem instead of going to the root and treating the cause. Feels like doctors aren't getting enough of patients.

Robert

3 tim13.11

Unfortunately, there is no faith in the future. Businesses, banks etc close down.

Monica Kruse

3 tim13.11

Because many who have thyroid problems get unnecessary antidepressants. Unfortunately, doctors do not have enough knowledge of the thyroid gland.

Tuula Henningsson