August 03, 2023

Antidepressants on the Rise


Antidepressants on the Rise
"A gram is better than a damn." Ragesoss, Wikimedia Commons

A recent report finds that antidepressant use in Russia, and especially in St. Petersburg, has increased sharply over the last year.

According to online outlet Bumaga, since 2021, Russian sales of antidepressants have increased by 66 percent. In St. Petersburg, in the first half of 2023 alone, use has grown by 39 percent.

In addition, sales of short-term treatments for depression have increased by 27 percent, and sales of sleeping pills have gone up by 22 percent.

The report also relates that St. Petersburgers spent a total of R1.278 billion ($13.6 million) in early 2023 psychiatric medicines. That's 22 percent more than the same period last year, with a 3 percent average price increase. In total, residents of St. Petersburg have bought 509,800 packs of psychiatric drugs in the first half of 2023.

While St. Petersburg is known for a northerly climate that is not always conducive to good mental health (it produced the likes of Dostoyevsky and Gogol, after all), analysts argue that many public affairs are likely causing this rise. Experts point to the ongoing war in Ukraine, drone strikes, and the economic impact of the conflict as causing hardship for Russian, and especially St. Petersburg, citizens.

 

You Might Also Like

Memes For Our Times

Memes For Our Times

We explain ten recent memes that best capture the current sociopolitical mood across a large subset of Russian society.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955