CANBERRA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of Australian children taking antidepressants has doubled in six years, according to the government statistics released on Saturday.
Data from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) revealed that the number of child antidepressant recipients in financial year 2017-18 was 101,174, up from 50,804 in 2011-12.
It marks the first time that the figure has breached 100,000 and highlights Australia's mental health crisis.
The number of antidepressant recipients rose across all age groups in the six-year period but the growth was strongest among those younger than 18 years old, the data showed.
In 2007-08, the number of children using antidepressants was fewer than 30,000.
Sebastian Rosenberg, an expert from the Australian National University's Centre for Mental Health Research, warned that there was no statistical evidence on whether the nation's mental health treatment programs were working.
"We don't have the data, we are outcome-blind," he told News Corp Australia on Saturday.
"Mental health is a young person's problem and yet we know very little about the mental health and welfare of young people."
Ian Hickie from the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre agreed with Rosenberg, saying that "we are still getting to the tip of the iceberg" when it comes to the mental health crisis.
He said that doctors were more likely to prescribe antidepressants in less affluent areas where patients could not afford psychological treatment.
"Medicines go up where psychological therapies go down," Hickie said.
"The danger is when there is no serious quality care. The danger is prescribing on its own or inappropriately prescribing.''
According to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report published in December 2018, almost one in seven children aged between four and 17 were assessed to have mental health disorders.
Almost one third of those with a disorder had two or more mental disorders.
