World Mental Health Day 2021: theme, meaning, importance

Today, October 10, 2021, is celebrated all over the world World Mental Health Day 2021, a special occasion to highlight a problem that is still too often underestimated and on which more and more sporty they are trying to raise public awareness, having often themselves been victims of psychological problems that have strongly affected their performance and in some cases have forced them to take breaks to heal before being able to resume competing.

This is a particular edition because it comes in the (hopefully) final phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, which in the last two years has caused many inconveniences to those suffering from mental disorders. In fact, many people who are struggling with mental illness due to coronavirus restrictions have not received the adequate treatments both from a pharmacological point of view, and above all from a rehabilitation point of view. And to all this is added the fact that the pandemic itself had a strong psychological impact even in those who were fine before 2020.

In Italy, as reported by the Italian Medicines Agency, Aifa, there are about 3 million people suffering from depression and in the course of 2020 about 6.5% of Italians, that is more than 3 million and 850 thousand of our fellow citizens, had to resort to antidepressant drugs. There was a 6.6% increase in hypnotic and anxiolytic drugs, benzodiazepines also due to Covid-19 depression.

World Mental Health Day: the story –

The World Mental Health Day was established in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH – World Federation Mental Health) and recognized by the World Health Organization. It was set for October 10 each year and the original idea was by then WFMH Deputy Secretary General Richard Hunter. In the first editions it did not have a specific theme for each year, but the objectives were to promote the defense of mental health and educate citizens on important issues related to this topic. In the first three years the main activity carried out on this day was a television broadcast that aired from the studios in Talahassee, Florida, and broadcast all over the world via the satellite system by the US news agency.

In 1994, the tradition began of choosing an annual theme as suggested by the then Secretary General of the WFMH Eugene Brody. The first theme was “Improving the quality of mental health services around the world“. On that occasion, feedback came from 27 different countries and in particular in Australia and England there were some campaign which have found a lot of success. Within three years, World Mental Health Day has become an important occasion for all concerned government departments, organizations and people involved in organizing mental health care programs. From 1995 onwards it was created of multilingual material to reach as many people as possible. And it is good to point out that by now it is no longer a one-day event, because the preparations take months, in some countries the program extends over several days or even throughout the month of October. In short, the initiative has evolved and now every nation is organizing itself to better disseminate information on mental health.

World Mental Health Day theme 2021 –

The Mental Health Day 2021 theme is “Mental health in an unequal world“ and aims to emphasize the discrimination which is still very widespread in dealing with problems of a physical nature and problems of a psychic nature. It is also highlighted how, due to social, economic, political and cultural factors, there are still too many differences in access to care and treatment and for people suffering from mental disorders the condition of inequality is strongly rooted. There is also a kind of self-discrimination because those with psychiatric disorders often fear a possible rejection or negative experiences and isolate themselves by not addressing the problem.

People with mental problems are still victims of prejudices and stereotypes that make them appear dangerous, aggressive or even violent, and their problems are often seen as insurmountable. They and their families are therefore discriminated against on multiple levels. WFMH with World Mental Health Day 2021 wants to offer everyone the opportunity to unite and act together to address these disparities and assure people who are mentally ill and their loved ones to be fully integrated into daily life in all its aspects.

World Mental Health Day 2021: the survey –

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day 2021, Ipsos, an institute specializing in market research and political polls, conducted a survey in 30 countries to investigate what citizens think about their physical and mental health and what are the perceptions of the mental health footprint since sanitary system of your country.

The survey found that averaging all countries involved, 79% of people surveyed consider physical and mental health to be equally important, but only 35% think that their country’s health system attaches the same importance to physical and mental health. . Furthermore, mental health represents the third most important health problem that people face at home and is slightly behind the cancer, while in the first place at the moment there is the fear of Covid-19.

53% on average say they think about their mental well-being, Brazil is the country with the highest percentage, 75%, while China is the one with the lowest percentage, only 26%. In Italy, 51% think about their mental well-being.

According to the data collected by Ipsos there is some certainty gender difference in dealing with mental health problems, because 58% of women admit to thinking about it, while among men this percentage drops to 48%. Furthermore, while 61% of young people under 35 admit to worry about their mental health, among the over 59 this number drops to 42%.

In Italy, 81% of the people interviewed assign the same importance to physical and mental health, 43% think that they are treated in the same way by the National Health System, while 39% believe that physical health is given more importance and only 9% believe that it is mental health that is considered most important by health professionals.