THE rates of depression and mental health prescriptions have increased year on year across Fife. 

The number of people being given medication for anxiety, depression and psychosis (ADP) have gone up by an average of almost 12 per cent in 10 years. 

Prescriptions in South and West Fife, which includes Rosyth, Inverkeithing, Aberdour, Dalgety Bay and the West Fife villages, have shot up by 45.5 per cent since 2010/11 – the highest increase of any part of the region.

Lynne Garvey, head of community care services for the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “There are many reasons why people may need medication to support their mental health, and this is very often based on their own specific circumstances.”

Former council leader, SNP councillor David Alexander, said health outcomes are closely related to employment and deprivation.

When the figures for Levenmouth, the city of Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, North East and South and West Fife are considered together, an average of 20.8 per cent of Fifers were prescribed medication for ADP in 2020/21. 

That's just above the Scottish national average, which is 19.3 per cent. 

Levenmouth has the highest rate of mental health prescriptions with almost a quarter (24.6 per cent) of residents prescribed medication for ADP in 2020/21 compared to the lowest rate, 17.3 per cent, in North East Fife. 

The rate is 17.9 per cent in the city of Dunfermline area and 20 per cent in the South and West Fife area.

Mrs Garvey said the partnership was working closely with NHS Fife and a range of other agencies to ensure individuals get the help and support they need, in “whatever form that takes for them”. 

She continued: “We have a commitment to improving the mental health and wellbeing of people from all over Fife, and indeed we are in the process of refreshing our mental health strategy.

"Work is carried out collaboratively in each locality to make sure that help and support is tailored to the needs of those living in those individual areas.”