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I don’t have any special insight, but in my part of the world that’s definitely a common perception of the USA, usually attributed to lax regulation around what kind of pharmaceutical advertising os permitted.

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According to these sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-therapeutic.htm

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

they don't seem ahead.

The data sources are not 100% comparable so make of that what you will.

It's an interesting topic because I've heard a South African joke that every American has a pharmacy in their house (talking about over the counter meds in that case) so I guess it's a common perception around the world. It's funny because most Americans have the opposite view (except regarding mental health medicine for some reason), if I had to summarize the attitude it's essentially "I hate being sick and I've got shit to do".

It's not so much about 'hate being sick and got shit to do' and more about 'I hate feeling sick but going to the doctor will cost me a small fortune, so I'll stick to over the counter medicine until I feel so bad I can't avoid it'.

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