In 2023, a total of 3,952 suicides34% of the population surveyed by the College of Psychologists of Spain claimed to suffer from some mental disorder and between January 1 and June 30 of this same year, 337,362 sick leave due to mental health reasons. Data like these show that, in the same way that it is increasingly talked about, mental health constitutes one of the fundamental pillars for the good development of society.
However, there is still a long way to go in this matter. Mayte Vazquez Resino She is a health and Human Resources psychologist and, on a day like today, when mental health is advocated, she points out that although since the pandemic “patterns of consciousness have changed, both at an individual and global level, creating synergies and mobilizations in favor of problems such as loneliness, suicide, etc.”, it is true that “much work remains to be established and effort to develop.”
“Decent work” at the center of mental health
If last year the motto was “Mental health, global health: a universal right”, this year Mental Health Day puts the work of organizations at the center in this area, thus highlighting the global and cooperative nature that this fight requires. Along these lines, Vázquez highlights that “safe and healthy workplaces help protect mental health, while unhealthy conditions, stigmatization, discrimination and exposure to risks such as harassment, individualization and other working conditions deficient are important risks that affect a person’s mental health and quality of life and, therefore, productivity at work.”
He also points out that it is precisely in this area where there is a pending matter ensuring that neither organizations nor any type of company is working enough for the mental well-being of employees. “Governments, employers, leaders representing workers, employers and other stakeholders responsible for health and safety They must collaborate to help improve mental health at work applying measures that take into account the opinion of the workers themselves with mental health problems.”
For its part, Diego Figueraa psychiatrist in Madrid, demands “a decent job for everyone, especially including those with a mental health diagnosis. His activity rate it only reaches 18.9% in Spain when for the rest of the population we are at 76%. “It is a gap that makes invisible and marginalizes people and families with mental disorders or disabilities.”
Access to an open system, a “basic and pressing” problem
As last year’s motto pointed out, when we talk about mental health, we talk about a universal right. However, today, a large section of the population does not have the necessary resources to access this right. According to the latest health barometer from the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), 40% of Spaniards who turned to a mental health professional had to wait between one and three months to obtain an appointment and 26% had to wait more than three months.
Regarding this, Vázquez comments that “along with the issue of investment in prevention, already described, economic resources and giving access to all people, from an open and sustainable public system, It is the basic and pressing problem which we are currently working on.”
There is no investment in the public to favor private insurance
Along these lines, Figuera emphasizes the urgency of increasing investment in the prevention tasks: “We must invest in prevention, where the social determinants of mental health have already been identified: work-life balance and safe parenting, adequate housing, the fight against marginalization and poverty, adequate schooling without harassment, etc. It is profitable. In addition to avoid just medicalizing suffering“. In this sense, it highlights the particular case of the Community of Madrid, “where we are at the bottom of the autonomous communities in ratios and half the ratios of the European average. There is no investment in the public to favor private insurance. Every man for himself“.
Intervention at early ages
These data show how important it is to raise awareness about the collective nature of this fight as it is to guarantee access to free, quality public care. However, experts point out that another of the pending issues is the awareness at the earliest ages.
For his part, Figuera points out the need to “invest in introducing prevention and mental health care issues into school from a young age.” including family members, professionals and students from primary school. Educate in good treatment and ethics of care, prevention of harassment.” At the same time, he denounces the lack of commitment of the institutions with the resources allocated to early ages. “For every euro invested in mental health prevention, five recover in the medium term. But it doesn’t sell. There must be a state pact similar to what is needed for policies to combat climate change”.
The box office success of films like Inside Out, Coconut either wonderamong others, reflect the way in which the child and youth group of the population learns and reflects on issues linked to mental health, having the opportunity to establish, from the first years of their life, the awareness that without mental health, there is no health.
In this sense, Vázquez highlights how essential it is to establish correct primary prevention – “before damage occurs” – and that this is carried out “from families and schools, and that is where parents, teachers and educators have a role.” fundamental in raising awareness and normalizing the importance of mental health.”
