Psychiatric medicines such as antipsychotics and antidepressants have become a cash cow for pharmaceutical companies, and are widely used despite the extremely limited evidence that they actually work. Here are some facts and statistics about psychiatric medication use:

1. One in four American women is currently taking psychiatric medication. (Holland, 2015)
2. Twenty-four percent of college students in a recent survey (N=3,200) took psychiatric medications in 2009, compared with just 1% in 1997. (Time, 8-30-2010, p. 16)
3. In 2010 antipsychotics and antidepressants were among the top-five highest-selling classes of drugs, generating $16.9 billion and $16.1 billion respectively that year. (Rosen, 2012)
4. Medicaid spent $3.6 billion on antipsychotic medication in 2008, up from $1.65 billion in 1999. Medicaid spends more money on antipsychotics than on any other class of drugs. (Lagnado, 2013)
5. More than 80% of the world’s use of stimulant medications occurs in the USA, even though we account for just 4.5% of the world’s population. (Vitiello, 2008)
6. In 2013 S. pharmaceutical companies produced 211 tons of legal speed, according to the DEA. “This translates to more than two dozen 20 mg Adderall pills for every U.S. man, woman and child.” (Diller, 2015)
7. An estimated 50% of patients with mental illness also have other physical illnesses, which potentially means a lot of mixing of medications. (Dayton, 2016)