And more "depressing" statistics

I wasn't intending this statistics abuse thing to turn into a series, but I can't help commenting on an article from The Daily Telegraph, "Women and depression: a modern malaise?"

The figures would appear to be rising further, as there has been a 43 per cent rise in the number of antidepressant prescriptions issued by GPs over the past four years, with the current total now standing at 41 million.

This increase in female depressive disorders is believed to be due to the stresses of balancing home and work, caring for sick relatives and feelings of loneliness brought about by childlessness, broken relationships or teenage children leaving home.

An increase in the number of prescriptions is the same as an increase in the number of people getting ill? So when some charity go and hand out, say, medicines to treat malaria, they're actually increasing the number of malaria cases?

Incidentally, depression (and in particular female depression) has been touted as a "modern malady" for as long as I can remember (and I remember that Rolling Stones song, "Mother's Little Helper"). Of course the word "modern" is suitably vague, but I assume they're not talking about "modern history" (i.e. any time after the French Revolution) or "modern" as opposed to "post-modern"; they mean "kind of now". In fact, later on, they point to an increase noted since 1993, which is a lot more precise, though those figures just talk about experiencing "some kind of mental disorder," which again is annoyingly vague. Since I'm neither a doctor nor a statistician, I have to describe my attitude as confusion with a streak of skepticism. Maybe that counts as experiencing a mental disorder too.