Mental health in EU: efforts needed to up care, fight stigma

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 18 - October 10 marked World Mental Health Day and the European Commission announced it was planning to launch a new campaign to fight stigma surrounding the subject.
    Besides affecting lots of people in the bloc, poor mental health also affects the economy. What is the situation between prejudices, social media and unequal access to help in the EU? According to a 2023 EU survey, 46 percent of the European Union's population had experienced emotional or psychosocial problems - for example feeling depressed or anxious - over the course of the previous twelve months. Just a third (33 percent) of respondents agreed that people with mental health conditions receive the same level of care as those with a physical condition, the study found.
    Ahead of last week's World Mental Health Day which focussed specifically on mental health at work, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, called to "break down the stigma around mental health, still too common across Europe and across all of society." She noted that "too often, people living with mental health challenges are met with misunderstanding, rejection and isolation" and said that "tackling this is the key to building healthier, more inclusive societies".
    "Mental health is important in every context, in particular at the workplace where people spend a significant amount of time," said Kyriakides.
    The European Commission announced on Thursday that it will launch a campaign - titled "In this together" - to raise awareness about the existing stigma and to address discrimination in and around mental health matters, in parallel with the objective of ensuring that all Europeans can access treatment regardless of their place of origin, age or socioeconomic status.
    On World Mental Health Day, European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas stressed that Brussels has launched twenty initiatives during the last legislature to fight what he called "a silent epidemic" and "help those who suffer".
    Last June, the European Commission announced that it will allocate 1.23 billion Euro to help member states improve the mental health of their citizens.
    Mental health affects all The WHO describes mental health as "a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community".
    During the COVID-19 pandemic mental health has worsened, especially among vulnerable groups such as children and young people, the elderly and individuals affected by pre-existing mental health conditions.
    Yet, mental health conditions already affected one in six people in the European Union before the pandemic.
    The OECD estimated that "mental ill-health" costs the 27 EU countries and the United Kingdom at least 600 billion Euro, or more than four percent of the GDP - touching both on direct treatment costs as well as indirect costs related to lower employment rates and reduced productivity.
    In the workplace 27 percent of EU citizens say they suffer from stress, depression or anxiety, according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
    But also issues such as climate change have caused higher levels of anxiety and distress in children and young people specifically while Russia's war in Ukraine, higher living costs, unemployment, increased digitalisations are affecting mental health negatively, too.
    According to the European Commission, there is an unequal distribution of mental health problems between population groups, with depression being more prevalent among women and in population groups with lower income and education levels.
    The Spanish Mental Health Commissioner of the Ministry of Health, Belén González, recalled that in Spain, the prescription of antidepressants has shot up by 250 percent since 2000; people with low incomes are prescribed with this type of medication seven times more than those with high incomes.
    The prevalence of mental disorders is about to overtake that of cardiovascular diseases, according to the Italian Society of Psychiatry which also stated that depression and other mental pathologies will be the most widespread in the world already before 2030, the year in which the WHO had estimated the "overtaking".
    In the past, the WHO stated that "current predictions indicate that by 2030 depression will be the leading cause of disease burden globally". (ANSA).