MEDICAMENTALIZAÇÃO NA PANDEMIA DE COVID-19: Consumo de psicofármacos em duas farmácias no sul fluminense

Social isolation and changes in routine during the COVID-19 pandemic had impacts on the mental health of the population and medicalization was used as a response to this problem. It is understandable that people face difficulties during periods of social deprivation, which can lead to symptoms such as fear, sadness and anxiety. However, it is important to emphasize that the approach to mental health should not be limited to medicalization alone. A study was carried out through document analysis in two pharmacies in the municipality of Barra Mansa, in Rio de Janeiro, in which the psychotropic drugs dispensed before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic were quantified. The results obtained revealed that in pharmacy A from 2018 to 2019 there was a tendency towards an increase in the consumption of psychotropic drugs, with emphasis on antipsychotics, however the total consumption from 2019 to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic fell by 9.02%. In pharmacy B, in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil in 2021, there was a 26.35% reduction in the total consumption of psychotropic drugs. During the period of decline in cases of the disease in 2022, a 3.14% drop in the consumption of these medications was observed, but the consumption of anxiolytics increased by 149%. These results only show an increase in the consumption of antipsychotics in the pre-crisis period and an increase in the consumption of anxiolytics in the post-crisis period, highlighting medicalization, especially in the use of anxiolytics due to the dependence and tolerance that lead to prolonged use of these drugs.