Kathrine Frich
Behind official narratives of stability, a quieter crisis is unfolding across Russia.
Pharmacies are selling unprecedented volumes of medication for depression and anxiety, reflecting mounting psychological strain after years of upheaval.
Data cited by international and Russian outlets suggest the trend is accelerating, with war, repression and economic uncertainty weighing heavily on daily life.
Sharp rise
Sales of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs in Russia have nearly tripled since before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to reporting by El País.
Consumption has continued to rise every year, surpassing even the levels recorded during pandemic lockdowns.
Figures from the Russian consulting firm DSM show that purchases of such medication increased by 36% in 2025 compared with the previous year.
That amounts to roughly 22.3 million packages sold annually for a population of about 143 million.
By comparison, pharmaceutical companies sold 9.2 million packages in 2021, just before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
During the pandemic, sales reached around 7.9 million packages.
War weighs heavier
According to analysts, the war in Ukraine has had a deeper emotional impact on Russian society than the coronavirus crisis.
During the pandemic, Kremlin restrictions were relatively mild, despite official figures acknowledging around 130,000 Covid-related deaths between April 2020 and June 2021.
Excess mortality during that period exceeded half a million people, but the conflict appears to be more present in everyday life.
Ongoing casualties, mobilization and uncertainty have become part of the national backdrop.
Independent Russian outlet Mediazona and the BBC have been compiling names of Russian soldiers killed since the start of the war, using open sources.
By the end of 2025, they had documented more than 160,000 deaths, while noting that the true figure is “much higher.”
Booming market
The antidepressant market generated about 20.5 billion rubles in revenue last year, DSM data show, roughly €230 million at current exchange rates.
Another consultancy, RNC Pharma, told the Russian newspaper RBK that consumption may have reached 23.5 million units in 2025.
DSM said the best-selling drug is Zoloft, a serotonin inhibitor patented by the American company Viatris. Other widely used medications include amitriptyline and fluoxetine.
“These are safe and well-studied medications; they have no major problems other than normal side effects,” Irene de la Vega Rodríguez, a clinical psychology specialist at Madrid’s San Carlos Clinical Hospital, told El País.
Medicalisation concerns
De la Vega Rodríguez warned, however, that antidepressants are sometimes prescribed too quickly.
“The problem with antidepressants is that they are sometimes prescribed as a first line of treatment when they are not necessary,” she said.
“First of all, before trying any medication, you have to try psychotherapy,” she added, cautioning against the tendency to medicalize social and everyday distress that drugs alone cannot resolve.
Sources: El País, DSM Group, RNC Pharma, BBC, Ziare.
