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New Yorkers Fight Crisis With Pills

Prescriptions shoot up in Sept., Oct.

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 15, 2008 8:24 AM CST

(Newser) – At least there's one market that's booming in New York—the market for pills for your sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression, Crain’s New York Business reports. The meltdown in the financial industry has caused a surge in prescriptions: In September, as Lehman Brothers was collapsing, and AIG and Merrill Lynch were being rescued, sleep-aid prescriptions jumped 11% and anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drug prescriptions climbed 9% compared to a year before.

This at a time when US spending on prescription drugs overall has dropped. “It’s unusual for somebody to come in at this point and for the economic environment not to be on the list of things affecting them,” says a Big Apple sleep doctor.

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New Yorkers' anxiety, depression, and sleep drug prescriptions have shot up lately. (Shutterstock)

The financial crisis may be fueling the increase in New Yorkers' prescriptions. (Shutterstock)

Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008. As Lehman collapsed in September, prescriptions for sleeping pills rose 11% in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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If we looked to diagnose the city, I would say it has an anxiety disorder. - Mel Schwartz, psychotherapist

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New Yorkers Fight Crisis With Pills