Of 30 European countries, Germany, closely followed by the UK, is most able to respond to the needs of people who suffer from mental illness.
That is the view of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Mental Health Integration Index, a study looking at how the European Union plus Switzerland and Norway integrate those with mental illnesses into their communities. The research, commissioned by Janssen, looked at five key areas – medical provision, human rights, stigma, the ability to live a fulfilling family life and employment.
Germany comes top, the report says, because of its strong healthcare system and generous social welfare programme which have helped better integration into society. The UK’s second place is largely down to “a long-term, progressive commitment at a policy level to mental health care and enhancing the position of people with mental health problems in society”.
Next come Denmark, Norway and Luxembourg, while further down the list come France (13th), Italy (16th) and Switzerland (24). Bulgaria is last.
The EIU says that the countries at the top of the index have moved treatment and support for mental illness away from hospital-based care to care which includes integration within society. Also the index found that scores correlate strongly with the proportion of GDP spent on mental health.
Aviva Freudmann, the EIU’s research director EMEA, stated that mental illness “is among Europe’s most difficult, complex and yet least-addressed issues” and 38% of Europeans suffer from such a condition at some point in any given year. She added that the countries with the best results tend to be in the north and west of Europe, whereas the weakest are largely in the south-east, “which can be attributed to low levels of investment and state treatment for those with mental illness. However those countries that have ranked highly are still far from perfect”.
The report makes a number of recommendations such as obtaining better data, providing more funding and “finishing deinstitutionalisation”.
