Anti-anxiety pill use surges in Italy

(ANSA) - Rome, May 25 - Italians are medicating their anxiety ever more.
    In a single year, there was an 8% increase in Italy in the use of drugs to treat anxiety, nervousness, panic attacks and insomnia, according to a study by Italian drug agency AIFA. A stable about 6% of the population, the report stated, had been prescribed an antidepressant during the year. Through an analysis of the data on drug prescriptions reimbursed by the national healthcare system, AIFA estimated that about 3.6 million Italians used antidepressants in 2017. An increase was instead seen in the consumption of benzodiazepines, which include anti-anxiety, hypnotic and sedative drugs.
    In 2017, "there were about 50 daily doses every thousand inhabitants, an increase of about 8% on the previous year". "This should sound alarm bell, since it indicates a response to increased levels of stress and psychological problems in daily life," said Massimo Cozza, psychiatrist and coordinator of the mental health department of the Asl Rm2 local health authority, the largest in Italy with about 1.3 inhabitants covered. He added that this was the result of "a growing solitude, an uncertain future and a rising inability to manage frustration."