World Mental Health Day: Pandemic, War, Economic Crisis and the Rise of Psychic Disorders

Pandemic, lockdown, but also the economic crisis and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The macroeconomic and geopolitical context of uncertainty contributed to a significant increase in

in the economically active population.

According to

in the world,

.

In particular, with regard to depression and anxiety, their impact grew respectively by 28% and 26% compared to the pre-Covid period.

invites us to reflect ,

which is celebrated today

and this year is

.  

Depression and anxiety but also obsessive-compulsive disorders and other pathologies of the psyche are no longer taboo also thanks to the fortitude of exponents of the entertainment world, who have broken the silence: the more we talk about them, the easier we can face the problem . 

According to the latest

report , in Italy in the last two years

.

"Dissatisfied with life" or in "a condition of poor psychological well-being" our young people are increasingly fragile and vulnerable.

The photograph taken from the survey by the Reference Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health of the

significant , with the support of the

people taken over by mental health services are decreasing, from 164 per 10 thousand residents in 2019, 143 in 2020, 125 in the first six months of 2021. Accomplice, in the last two years, the closure of some temporarily converted services in Covid-19 wards.

Resignations from residential structures also fell: in the first half of 2021, almost no one was discharged.

There are, however, signs of a gradual exit of services from the pandemic emergency, with the increase in psychiatric and psychological visits between January and June 2021. There has also been an increase in the remote or mixed modality interventions that in the emergency have made it possible to maintain continuity of care.

The investigation, thanks to funding from the same Ministry, initiated the establishment of

: a “sentinel” network aimed at

to help public decision-makers in health planning choices, even beyond the Covid emergency.

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, UNICEF recalls that globally, 1

.

Most of the 800,000 people who die from suicide each year are young and that

.

Half of all mental health issues start by age 14 and 75% of all mental health issues develop by age 24, but most cases go undetected and untreated.

in which stigmatization and harmful social and gender norms are internalized.

Both girls and boys also pay a price for entrenched gender norms.