Dr. med. Uwe Meier (l), specialist in neurology and first chairman of the professional association of German neurologists
The nationwide initiative #kopfsache creates public awareness of the problem for shaping the future of specialist medical care for patients in Germany – How much does society value the mental health of its citizens of all ages?
A society must measure itself by how it treats old, weak and sick people. Patients with mental and neurological illnesses are among the patients with the greatest limitations in quality of life, with the most severe disabilities even at a young age.
And the importance is constantly growing: not a year goes by without new records for periods of incapacity for work due to mental illnesses, but also not a year goes by without new groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases of the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis.
Illnesses of the psyche and nervous system not only cause suffering for those affected and are not a private matter. They include the entire family and social environment. Relatives are overworked and often become ill themselves. The consequences for society as a whole are significant. Mental and neurological diseases are among the most common diseases and among the most expensive. In addition to the treatment costs, there are production losses, pensions and care costs.
ERGO: More than ever, it is about individual suffering and social consequences, because mental and neurological illnesses not only affect the individual, but also have far-reaching effects on the entire social structure
Currently, the social and health policy framework is fatal for the health of the psyche and brain. An overwhelmed society with the highest number of days of incapacity for work due to mental illnesses and the steep increase in neurodegenerative diseases caused by demographics cannot be repaired by completely underfunded and disincentivized medicine with prescriptions from the post-war period. There is an urgent need for action. To do this, we must break up an encrusted healthcare system and enable new treatment concepts. There are solutions. But it requires the political will and willingness of all actors in the health system.
The political agenda must make mental health care a priority in order to enable people with mental and neurological illnesses to participate equally in social life. Therefore, the urgent appeal to Federal Health Minister Prof. Dr Karl Lauterbach and all health policy actors and decision-makers is: It is time to assume their responsibility and give mental health care priority. It is important to make neurological and mental health care a priority because it is high time to take measures to ensure adequate care for people with mental and neurological diseases.
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The Central Association of CNS is the association of the most important professional medical associations in the field of CNS care: psychiatry, neurology, psychosomatic medicine, child and adolescent psychiatry and medical psychotherapy. It focuses on the interests of its members in order to represent them to politics, self-government and the public.
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