Anxiety and depression are we facing another pandemic?

Background: During the post COVID pandemic, we have noticed what looked like a significant increase of antidepressants and anxiolytic medications in patients attending their outpatients appointment. This seems disproportionate to the reported national average of anxiety and depressive disorders in adult populations. Methods: Looking into patients attending their two weeks wait appointment with breast and GI surgery, data has been collected regarding patients' regular medication with specific focus on anxiolytic and antidepressants. Further questions regarding formal diagnosis have been asked to the patients and confirmed with GP notes. Results: In total 200 patient forms have been collected. There was notable discrepancy between national average and the amount of patients attending with regular prescriptions of anxiolytic or antidepressants. On further scopes, these more than half of the patients taking these medications had normal investigation and have been discharged from their specialty back to primary care. Conclusion: There could be multiple explanations for this phenomenon however it is obvious that there is significant increase in recent years.