38 percent of Europeans are mentally ill

38 percent of Europeans are mentally ill

06/09/2011

Mental disorders are far more widespread in Europe than previously thought. According to a study by the Technische Universität Dresden (TU), about 38 percent of Europeans suffer from mental illness within one year, such as anxiety disorders, alcohol habit, ADHD or depression. In absolute terms, 168 million euros per year are mentally ill.

Phobias, depression and alcohol addiction: Around 164.8 million people in the European Union and three other countries suffer from a mental illness. In view of these dramatic numbers, mental disorders are now among the "greatest health challenges of the 21st century", as the Dresden psychologist and study author Prof. Hans-Ulrich Wittchen explained. The study results were presented on 5 September 2011 by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) and the European Brain Council (EBC). In addition to the numbers, the researchers found "dramatic grievances in the care of patients with mental illness". Only about one third of those affected experience therapy at all. However, the treatments are often not technically sound. In addition, many patients themselves know nothing about their disorder. "The widespread ignorance in the population and in health policy regarding the various forms of mental disorders" is one of the causes of the massive occurrence of the diseases.

For the first time, a realistic picture of the incidence and incidence of mental disorders in Europe could be identified. Within a year, 38 percent of EU residents of all ages suffered from clinically significant mental illnesses. "Mental disorders are not the rare fate of a few," the authors emphasize. Because the brain, as the most "complex" organ, is affected by disorders and diseases as often as the rest of the body.

Most suffer from anxiety and depression
In the first place with 14 percent are the anxiety disorders such as cardiac neurosis or social phobias. In second place with 6.9 percent are depressive episodes or manifested depression, followed by the psychosomatic diseases with 6.3 percent. Four percent of patients are drug or alcohol dependent and five percent of children and adolescents suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dementia is one percent of 60-65 year olds. The 85-year-old is already around 30 percent. If the neurological diseases were to be added, the "true extent" would be far worse, as the authors write in the study report. More millions of EU patients are affected by neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis. These patient groups are not included with the surveys.

All ages affected by mental disorders
It was noticeable that mental disorders at all ages are equally prevalent and widespread even among children and young adults. Accordingly, it can not be assumed that especially children or especially older people are more often ill. In addition, the frequency and ranking of mental disorders, with the exception of addictions, were equally equally distributed in all countries.

The study results are based on a total of three years of work by a research team at the TU Dresden. The analysis included all 514 million inhabitants of the 27 EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The evaluations took into account more than 100 different mental and neurological conditions. This makes investigation the world's first study to include an almost complete spectrum of mental and neurological disorders.

If one compares the data with earlier years, hardly any significant increases in the frequency are measurable. Compared to 2005, only dementia has increased. However, this is a result of demographic change because people are getting older, as the scientists emphasized.

Inadequate therapies and little background knowledge of those affected
According to the study, first treatment usually takes years until after the onset of the disorder. In many cases, the therapeutic approaches do not even meet the minimum requirements for well-founded and sustainable therapy. Therefore, the head of the study, Professor Wittchen, called for an end to the under- and wrong care of patients. Many diseases usually start in early childhood and develop later. As a result, people have a hard time suffering from long-term effects. Therefore, must be set early, as the psychologist demanded. Due to the demographic change of the societies and the continuous increase of mental illness, "concerted actions in clinical basic and health care research" have to be done "to improve care and prevention" and to sustainably reduce financial burdens on the health system. Mental disorders are considered to be a much greater burden on the health system than other diseases such as cancer or diabetes. The proportion of social systems is 26.6 percent as measured by the incidence of all diseases.

"The low level of problem awareness coupled with ignorance of the true scale of the frequency, pressures and costs of mental disorders in all societies and strata is the key obstacle to mastering this challenge," study author Wittchen writes. Therefore, the European budgets for preventive research and treatment research should be significantly increased. Only then can the problem be limited in the long term. The calculated figures largely coincide with current evaluations of the German health insurances. These have been reporting for several years repeatedly on increases in mental illness. (Sb)

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