The new Headway 2023 report found that eco-anxiety, characterized by a pervasive fear of climate change and its consequences, is capable of impacting mental health, particularly among young people. The new research, presented to the European Parliament by The European House – Ambrosetti, an Italian Think Tank, together with Angelini Pharma, an international pharmaceutical company part of the Angelini Industries Group, has shown that more and more citizens in Europe suffer from this fear.
Eco-anxiety: Italy above the European average
In general, in terms of the prevalence of mental disorders, Italy ranks above the European average, with more than 1 in 5 citizens suffering from at least one mental disorder. Among the most common mental disorders are anxiety and depression. However, only 1 in 3 people affected by these disorders receive adequate medical treatment.
For the first time since the initiative launched in 2017, the “Headway – Mental Health Index 3.0” report specifically examined eco-anxiety as a new key factor. Created as part of an initiative to address important mental health issues across Europe, this composite index compares mental health across the 27 EU countries and the UK using 54 key performance indicators. It includes three macro areas: the determinants of mental health, the state of mental health of a population and the ability of national health systems to respond to people’s needs in terms of healthcare, including in the workplace, in the school environment and in society in general.
More than 1/3 of Europeans feel exposed to the threats of climate change
The report shows that, on average, more than a third of Europeans (37%) feel exposed to threats related to climate change. In countries where its effects are already tangible due to extreme meteorological events, such as Italy, Spain and Greece – which are part of the so-called Mediterranean hotspot, one of the fastest warming regions on the planet – the impact on mental health could be even stronger. 64% of the population of Portugal and 63% of Malta feel threatened by climate change, due to rising sea levels and forest fires. In Italy, 43% suffer from this threat.
Eco-anxiety, pre-traumatic stress disorder, and other parallel crises
Most forms of eco-anxiety, defined as pre-traumatic stress disorder, are not clinical but can contribute to and worsen pre-existing mental health conditions.
In addition to eco-anxiety, the report highlights a number of parallel crises impacting people’s mental health. Geopolitical conflicts, social tensions and the cost of living crisis have affected the daily lives of millions of Europeans, with 62% of them saying they are affected by the current polycrisis. In particular, young people emerge as a particularly vulnerable group. According to findings from the Headway Report, around 20% of children experience mental health problems during their school years and one in five report unhappiness and anxiety about the future due to loneliness, bullying and difficulties with schoolwork. Additionally, 45% of people ages 16 to 25 report daily anxiety and discomfort associated with eco-anxiety.
Eco-anxiety: prevention starts from schools
In this regard, EU countries diverge widely in their ability to organize awareness and prevention programs in schools. In particular, the school psychologist is a consolidated figure in almost all of Europe, with the exception of Romania, Turkey and Italy, where 10% of young people dropping out of school are due to mental health disorders. As regards work, however, in Italy the employment rate of people aged between 25 and 64 with serious mental distress is 40%.
“Although mental health disorders can affect anyone, regardless of nationality, socioeconomic background, gender or ethnicity, young people and more vulnerable populations may experience disproportionate levels of distress and require greater levels of support,” he said Maria Walsh, Member of the European Parliament for the Midlands-North West constituency. “Providing tailored policy actions and health interventions that offer comprehensive mental health support due to the challenges faced by these people, some of which are already present in some Member States, could help address mental health disorders in when they present and to ensure appropriate support and treatment.”
Difficulties in accessing mental health care
Providing an overview of mental health in Europe, based on a wide range of information collected and analysed, Headway – Mental Health Index is also useful as a barometer of each country’s ability to produce effective and comparable databases. Headway, in this sense, continues to highlight the structural differences and limitations between different databases and health and social care systems, and underlining the need for greater comparability to better understand the current state of mental health of the population in different European countries and how to respond to mental health needs.
Ireland leads the ranking in the percentage of people who declared that they or their family members have found it difficult to access mental healthcare with 44% of the total while Italy is last with 13%.
In various European countries, the level of stigmatization is very heterogeneous. In Greece and Romania, for example, the vast majority of the population believes that mental health patients are judged differently than other patients in their country (86% and 85% respectively). In contrast, in Slovakia (65%) and Estonia (60%), this percentage is much lower. In Italy it is 79% of the population.
In this regard, there are significant differences in the way mental health problems are addressed in the countries analyzed and the report indicates more or less high scores based on the capacity to respond within the workplace, schools and society in question. general. Ranking high according to the metrics used for the Headway report are Denmark, Sweden and Finland, while Slovakia, Greece and Croatia tend to have lower scores. It is important to note that a decrease in a country’s score does not necessarily mean that its mental health services have worsened, but may rather indicate that other countries have improved relatively faster.
The distribution of economic resources allocated to mental health services varies considerably between EU states: France (13.9%), Germany (13.1%) and Sweden (10.0%) are the main investors, exceeding significantly compared to the average of other European countries which is expected to be 5.4%. In the ranking, Italy is third to last with 3% of resources allocated, before Estonia and Bulgaria.
School psychologists and basic psychologists
The Italian Parliament is currently debating two important legislative proposals, one for the establishment of school psychologists and the other for the so-called “Basic psychologist”, who would work in a similar way to general practitioners, but with a focus on mental health . In 2023 the Ministry of Health activated a Technical Roundtable on Mental Health, the aim of which is to identify areas for improvement in terms of prevention, treatment and support.
“Over the course of this last year, the European population has faced the concomitance of economic, social, geopolitical and environmental crisis factors with a significant impact on people’s mental health – declared Elisa Milani, project coordinator and consultant in the area healthcare of The European House – Ambrosetti. In this scenario, the update of the Headway Mental Health Index, now in its third edition, continues to represent a useful tool for monitoring and planning health, welfare, educational and environmental policies regarding mental health in European countries. In this post-pandemic era, which has been defined as a polycrisis due to the occurrence of multiple crises and challenges, the adoption of data-driven tools for policy makers represents an opportunity to identify the most critical areas and, consequently, to intervene through a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach aimed at building an overall more equitable and resilient society.”
The EU mental health strategy
“The EU mental health strategy, recently launched by the European Commission, focuses on prevention, access to treatment and reintegration into society. It is an encouraging example of the growing awareness among national governments, academia, the healthcare industry and other stakeholders of the need for more comprehensive support to address the unprecedented increase in mental health problems in Europe,” he said. declared Jacopo Andreose, CEO of Angelini Pharma. “We are grateful to the European Parliament and our partner, The European House – Ambrosetti, for continuing to support and engage in research, such as the Headway report, and look forward to strengthening dialogue, paradigm shifts and sharing best practices in relation to this more complete picture of mental health in Europe”.
READ ALSO: Which activity is best for anxiety and depression?
To learn more about “Headway: A New Roadmap in Mental Health” or to download the full report, visit:
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado / Cosiela Borta / Elsa Tonkinwise
Advertising
You might also be interested in…
2023-11-13 14:38:31
#Ecoanxiety #affects #mental #health #people
