France, June 2 -- France is facing a shortage of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, which psychiatrists warn is putting pressure on the country's already strained health system, as patients unable to fill their prescriptions resort to emergency care.

France's national medicines safety agency (ANSM) has been alerted to shortages of 14 psychiatric medications since the start of the year - including sertraline, an antidepressant sold under brand names including Zoloft and widely prescribed to treat depression and anxiety disorders.

Patients prescribed sertraline and some other psychiatric drugs have had to visit multiple pharmacies to have their prescriptions filled - if they are able to at all.

"We're having a lot of trouble ge...