OREANDA-NEWS Sales of antidepressants in the first quarter of 2026 increased by 22 percent compared to the same period last year. This is reported by Izvestia with reference to experts.

According to Nikolay Bespalov, Director of Development at RNC Pharma, an analytical company, antidepressants have become one of the fastest growing groups of drugs in the Russian pharmaceutical market. It is noted that last year Russians bought 23.4 million packages of antidepressants, which is almost a quarter more than in 2024.

"People started going to doctors, it used to be considered shameful. Now it has become more accessible, and such assistance is not discriminated against. The second point, of course, is a stressful situation. For the last six years, since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been going from one stress to another," said psychiatrist Igor Lazarev.

Earlier, Kommersant reported on the growing demand of Russians for antidepressants, citing data from RNC Pharma. On average, 156 packages were sold per thousand people in 2025, 284.7 packages in Moscow, and 311.8 packages in St. Petersburg.