Mental health prescriptions rise 17% across Missouri

COLUMBIA — Across the state of Missouri, the number of people taking mental health prescriptions has gone up 17% since January 2021. Calli Kempker, pharmacist at Robert’s Drug Store, said this is not a typical increase over a year-long span.

“I think 17% percent, yeah that is a big jump for just the course of a year in mental health, so it’s definitely something we need to be aware of and concerned about,” Kempker said.

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri, Dr. Amanda Kingston, agreed that a 17% increase is pretty big, yet not too surprising.

“We, kinda in the mental health field since the pandemic started in early 2020, have had this suspicion that we were gonna see this second wave, this kinda second pandemic of mental health crises,” Kingston said.

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/mental-health-prescriptions-rise-17-across-state-of-missouri