The pandemic’s true toll on mental health won’t be known for a long time, but data from the past two years indicates a rise — some of it sharp — in prescription drugs for conditions like A.D.H.D. and depression.

If you’re wondering which pills and how many of them Americans have relied upon to make ourselves feel better since Covid-19 arrived, the answer, in short, is yes.

“I should have gone back on medication sooner in the pandemic than I did,” said Leah Bellow-Handelman, 36, matter-of-factly. Ms. Bellow-Handelman, a nurse who lives in Brooklyn with two small children, has been 

on and off Prozac for anxiety since her 20s. Shortly before the pandemic, she had weaned herself off in time for her first pregnancy.

So, she wasn’t taking anything when the pandemic struck, even though her life was operating in full crisis mode: She worked at the urgent care center at Memorial Sloan Kettering in Manhattan, a cancer hospital. The emergency room is dedicated to current and former cancer patients, and many of the patients admitted to urgent care had especially severe cases of Covid and needed oxygen or intubation right away.

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