The use of antidepressants among teenagers has exploded in just the last few years in Quebec.
Figures from Quebec's health insurance board are staggering — three times more Quebec teens were consuming antidepressant drugs in 2017 than they had ten years earlier.
In addition, twice as many teen girls than teen boys are using them.
Dr. Karine Igartua, the head of Quebec's psychiatrists' association, tells CJAD 800's Leslie Roberts that the demands of school are worse than they once were, as well as the worries coming from the outside world.
"Teens and young adults have a lot more stresses than the previous generation did. The academic programs demand high grades to get in...teenagers are more worried about global tragedies, like the mass shooting, the one we had [in Pittsburgh], things like climate change. So they have more things to worry about."
And, of course, the rise of social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat over the last decade has made things a lot less pleasant for a lot of teens.
"We used to be able to...you know, if we had a bad day at school, you could go home, and we had a safe haven at home," she says, "but if you're feuding with your best friends now, chances are that feud's going to continue on on social media."
Dr. Igartua also points to declining accessibility to psychotherapists, and, a general trend among all types of doctors to prescribe meds. "When you're faced with someone in distress you want to help them," she says.