Mental illness kills – Expresso

The reform that is underway in the field of mental health in Portugal is advancing, but still with timid steps, especially in the field of investment, which is still insufficient to make up for the country’s 20-year delay in relation to other developed countries in Europe. The share of the Recovery and Resilience Plan to be allocated is still unknown, but experts expect it to be higher than the approximately 5% of the State Budget that has occurred in recent years.

More prevalent than, for example, Alzheimer’s disease, mental illness is still not seen or approached like any other disease. It is necessary to increase the population’s literacy in this field, but also to unlock access to innovative medicines that, although approved, do not reach the market, pointed out to business leaders present at the debate “Familiarmente: Mental Health of families in Portugal”, in which the Express is media partner da Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine

The conference was moderated by SIC journalist Paula Castanho and was attended by Francisco Pedro Balsemão, CEO Grupo Impresa; Filipa Mota e Costa, from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine; João Bessa, president of the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health; Joaquina Castelão, president of Familiarmente – Portuguese Federation of Associations of Families of People with Experience of Mental Illness; Ana Matos Pires, member of the National Coordination of Health Policies and Sofia Tavares, professor at the University of Évora

Discover the main conclusions.

Fight stigma

• There is a taboo regarding mental health that inhibits society from asking for help.
• It is necessary to increase literacy and talk more about the topic so that more people know who and where to turn.
• There is a tendency towards the psychiatrization of everyday life. Depression has different characteristics from sadness “which we all must and can go through throughout our lives”, explains João Bessa.
• In more serious cases, the stigma regarding mental illness “often even comes from the health services themselves”, reveals Joaquina Castelão.

What needs to be done

• Mental illness must be diagnosed as quickly as possible and have “treatment appropriate to the needs of the person and their family, such as diseases such as kidney failure or heart disease”, warns Joaquina Castelão.
• Regarding serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, it is necessary to have a “more positive” position. “Today, schizophrenia can have a very positive recovery and significant social and family reintegration”, says João Bessa.
• Various types of treatment are needed and scientific evidence proves that psychological intervention “is effective even from the point of view of cost and effectiveness plays an important role. It frees up an important burden of primary care”, says Sofia Tavares.
• So far, none of the 500 homes planned for mental health patients have been built. But psychiatric hospitals have already been closed. “Before completely closing hospitals, it is necessary to create structures and conditions for the transition of these people and, on the other hand, welcome those who are not in hospitals, who are in society. Many are without because they no longer have family support, but they are people like us”, says Joaquina Castelão.

Investment and prevention

• Primary care is trained to diagnose and refer mental health patients, but resources “are scarce”, admits Ana Matos Pires. Experts warn of the need to invest in specialized human resources.
• Proximity care is essential so that people do not all have to go to central services. “Community teams must be created according to the needs of each region, which also allow for the rehabilitation and reintegration processes of the patient, often complementary to treatment”, says Joaquina Castelão.
• Prevent suffering in suicide, because “people who commit suicide do not want to end their lives but rather the experience of suffering they experience at that moment. You need to not be afraid to speak up and address the topic”, says Sofia Tavares.

The numbers

• One in five people suffers from mental health problems in Portugal.
• Two million people need help dealing with the pathology.
• Mental health disorders are responsible for the loss of a third of years of healthy life.
• Portugal is the country with the highest prevalence rate of mental health illness in Europe and ranks fifth among the countries with the most cases.
• In a thousand registered suicides, more than 50% resulted from depression, a pathology that increases this risk 20 times.
• 8% of Portuguese people are diagnosed with depression.
• 48 thousand Portuguese suffer from schizophrenia, 16% of whom do not have medical care.
• “5% of the value of the State Budget was not invested in recent years. Policies were approved, but investment fell short of what we expected. We hope that the next budget will be more generous”, says Joaquina Castelão.