More than 8.5 million people were prescribed nearly 86 million antidepressant items in England in 2022-23, according to the latest official figures.

Data from the NHS Business Services Authority also showed that was an increase on the figures for 2021-22 when 8,359,838 people were prescribed a total of 82,721,610 items.

The only British National Formulary section to decrease since 2021-22 was hypnotics and anxiolytics, with items falling by two per cent to 14 million and identified patients also falling by two per cent to 1.9 million in 2022-23.

The prescribing of central nervous system stimulants and drugs for ADHD increased by 32 per cent in adults over 18 and 12 per cent in children 17 and under.