The conflict in Ukraine and the impact of climate change could be among the driving factors behind a growing wave of mental disorders in Europe. This is what emerged from the latest Headway report entitled A new roadmap in Mental Health, presented today by The European House – Ambrosetti, Italian Think Tank, and Angelini Pharma, an international pharmaceutical company part of Angelini Industries. It is estimated that 22% of the population has a mental disorder in conflict settings – 1/3 of Ukrainian refugees could develop depression, anxiety disorders or PTSD as a result of fleeing war or internal displacement.
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The ‘fragile’ most at risk
The direct and indirect effects of climate change on mental health affect the most vulnerable people most and may include psychological distress, increased mortality and suicide rates. Italy is among the countries that react best to external factors.
In Europe, the total costs related to mental health amount to more than € 600 billion (4% of total EU GDP). It is expected that by 2030 i disturbances of mental health will account for more than half of the global economic burden from noncommunicable diseases. The report compares the mental health situation in 27 European countries and the United Kingdom, using 55 key performance indicators (KPIs) that highlighted major differences in the organization of countries to address the issue and support their citizens.
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The countries of the North are more prepared
Continuing a trend already evident in the results of the report in 2021, the countries of Northern Europe are confirmed as those with the highest scores in the performance index, while Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia are among those with the lowest overall scores. For the first time since the Headway initiative was launched in 2017, the report specifically examined the environmental determinants affecting mental health, highlighting the disastrous impact that factors such as climate change, conflict and migration have.
Environmental determinants are a category recently inserted among the external factors that impact on mental health and which considers all the external conditions that influence a person’s life, development and survival. The analysis of these environmental factors shows that Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Ireland are able to sustainably address the mental health condition of their citizens, while the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe, as with Romania, Bulgaria and Greece , still have room for improvement to better address these determinants of health.
Climate change
“This report shifts international attention to the influence that environmental factors, such as climate change, the economic recession or geopolitical crises such as the guerra in Ukraine, they have on mental health, “said Pierluigi Antonelli, CEO of Angelini Pharma.” disturbances mental health continue to have an enormous social and economic weight on communities: some estimates reported in the new report show that, by 2030, they will account for more than half of the global economic burden, which is why we need to act now. “
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More deaths in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands
In Europe, around 4% of all deaths are caused by mental and behavioral disorders. The countries with the highest number of deaths from these diseases are the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands. Italy occupies 12th place, just under half of the table, immediately after Spain. Among the deaths caused by mental disorders, in Europe, 140,000 deaths per year are from suicide, which is the sixth cause of death in the population under the age of 70 and the fourth cause of death in the population under the age of 20.
Lithuania and Latvia are the European countries with the highest suicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants, while Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Italy are those with the lowest rate. Although climate change has been documented to have a similar impact on mental health across different populations, from the report A new roadmap in Mental Health instead, it emerges that it acts differently between individuals. Young people and indigenous peoples, as well as those living with pre-existing vulnerabilities, with cognitive and motor disabilities or living in conditions of poverty, are the most affected.
The size of the impact is measurable with an increase in mortality, impulsive behaviors and suicide rates. Little-talked-about news, such as a one-degree increase in average monthly temperature, actually contribute to a 0.48% increase in visits to emergency mental health departments and 0.35% in suicides. According to the data that emerged from the report, people exposed to certain air pollutants are more likely to be suffering from mental disorders, especially anxiety: in Italy, more than 15% of the population is exposed to these pollutants.
Examining the impact of conflicts and migration, the report reveals that about 22% of people have a mental disorder in conflict settings (13% mild forms of depression, anxiety and PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress; 4% more moderate forms; 5.1% severe depression and anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder). After a conflict, about one in five people continue to have depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, bipolar disorders and schizophrenia. The large number of people affected by the ongoing conflicts 27 around the world with 68.6 million displaced according to the United Nations, makes addressing mental health needs even more urgent.
Health policies
The report also noted the ability of countries to react to such conditions: the most sustainable country is Finland, Italy is one of the nations that permanently suffers from conflicts, migrations and economic recession. No European area is characterized by high crime rates, however, there is great variability between countries: the effects of acts of violence, regardless of whether it is experienced firsthand or witnessed, have a negative impact especially on the increase of cases of depression. The country with the highest number of violence is the United Kingdom with 24%, Italy records 8% and is positioned in the middle of the ranking.
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Unfavorable housing conditions
Unfavorable housing conditions also have a direct association with mental health: people living in overcrowded contexts are more likely to have a mental disorder, including psychological distress and depression: in Italy, around 20% of the population lives in solutions. precarious housing and 26% in overcrowded contexts.
Urbanization, which implies a smaller presence of green spaces that help relieve stress and anxiety, is associated with a growing incidence of mental disorders: the European country with the largest percentage of urban green space is Croatia with 74%, the ‘Italy 34%, 21 out of 28. Further results of the report show the persistence of the effects of the pandemic which has led to an unprecedented deterioration in mental health, with an increase of more than 25% globally in diseases such as anxiety and major depressive disorder.
Access to mental health services
As described in the report, 19% of patients worsened due to lack of access to mental health services and 52% experienced a worsening of their condition. The pandemic also had a major impact on those working in the healthcare sector: a higher risk of infections, longer working hours, and a high patient load contributed to health care workers experiencing levels of anxiety (13% versus 8.5%) and depression (12.2% versus 9.5%) much higher than those in other professions.