LONDON (Reuters) – Europeans are plagued by mental and neurological illnesses, with almost 165 million people or 38 percent of the population suffering each year from a brain disorder such as depression, anxiety, insomnia or dementia, according to a large new study.
With only about a third of cases receiving the therapy or medication needed, mental illnesses cause a huge economic and social burden — measured in the hundreds of billions of euros — as sufferers become too unwell to work and personal relationships break down.
“Mental disorders have become Europe’s largest health challenge of the 21st century,” the study’s authors said.
At the same time, some big drug companies are backing away from investment in research on how the brain works and affects behavior, putting the onus on governments and health charities to stump up funding for neuroscience.
“The immense treatment gap … for mental disorders has to be closed,” said Hans Ulrich Wittchen, director of the institute of clinical psychology and psychotherapy at Germany’s Dresden University and the lead investigator on the European study.
Must be time for a new vaccine.
Based on my observations, I believe at least 10% of people have severe mental/emotional problems. This sounds high, but not impossible.
Only 40%? They must have excluded the Germans from the survey results.
BTW, when did anxiety or insomnia become a “mental illness” ?
That percentage will go up and down depending on how they (re)define “mental illness.”
And I blame it on the European’s irradiated food.
#2, Good question. Guess I’m a Nutter, too, then.
(Yes, I know I’ve left myself wide open there 🙂 )
Great timing – since the CDC released numbers this morning that say the same about 50% of Americans.
Har.
I know one man who appears to be suffering some anxiety and probably not sleeping well at night — Obama.
Have you seen pictures of him lately? That man is looking like warmed over death. He needs to take a vacation and tell the press to shove it — let Biden answer the phone for the next couple of weeks.
#5. Would that be Republicans or Democrats…
never mind, don’t answer.
They obviously have TOO MANY PSYCHIATRISTS AND PSYCHOLOGISTS !!! They have to “Diagnose” their patients to justify their existence !!!
The leading cause of mental illness is thought to be Global Warming(TM). Watch out for the new Al Gore “Mad Tax”.
Sorry. I’m bored.
If people or the government paid for this, the service would certainly be provided.
Sad because while it is entirely believable that 50% of any population would benefit from psych/social counseling one or more times per year, most of that number can muddle thru with whatever coping mechanisms they have or just stay the pleasant people they let themselves be.
Not to be missed in this fluff is the 2-3% with serious psych problems that really do need intervention/support and don’t get it at all. We use jail for these folks.
Not a good system at all. The needs and solutions are misrepresented at every opportunity.
Yea, verily.
“Three hundred and fifty thousand: That’s a conservative estimate for the number of offenders with mental illness confined in America’s prisons and jails.”
http://npr.org/2011/09/04/140167676/nations-jails-struggle-with-mentally-ill-prisoners
Thanks McCullough. Gee–I’m losing the ability to do simple math. I used to be able to just “see” the answers. Now I can’t even calculate with pen and paper.
but about one tenth of one percent of the population? Not the 2-3 I wrote?
What about those on parole, probation, half way houses? How about those given a ride to the city limits?
Its the per cent “subject to” the jail system not those that are simply “in” jail. Harder to estimate. could be higher.
Its definitional. As all things are. Including what is mental health: good, bad, and indifferent.
So, what portion of the population needs to be afflicted before it stops being abnormal?
Yes, I understand that the percentage for each particular disorder is actually rather low, but they are lumping them all together for hype’s sake. Heck I’d be willing to bet that 99% of the population has some sort of physical disorder over the course of a week. I mean you can count things like paper cuts, colds, dandruff, indigestion, zits, and so forth and add them all up….
Those wacky, Europeans.
Maybe they projected their own madness on KHHadaffi. If the no fly zone turns into carpet bombing, that would be an indication.
50% of Americans are below average.
#20 Foobar,
95% of Americans are stupid because they think there’s actually a difference between the Democrat Party and the Republican Party, 4% know there isn’t but are ignored altogether and the remaining 1% owns both parties.
People who actually have something to do are much less likely to “suffer” from these disorders.
Doomssayers looking for money.
#21 – sadly you may not be far off on the percentages (although I’d use ‘unobservant’ or ‘ignorant’ rather than ‘stupid’). When you try to look past the surface, it’s not hard to see why the foil hat crowd gets that way.
Seems like poorly written script some days.
It’s all in the definition.
I suffer from occasional bouts of insomnia. Never really consider taking anti-psychotics for it. Maybe under O’BamaCare I can get “cured”. Imagine Gov-paid lobotomies! It would probably be a union enrollment requirement.
My personal experience with the EuroZone (including one marriage) would indicate the percentage is rather low.
Remember the good ole days in the US when we institutionalized the crazies? Now we give them talk radio shows and conspiracy blogs…
Alfie: Was living in an institution really so bad?
Depression is very common here in Sweden. We have the most sick days but generally the healtiest population in Europe. And I get it. It’s a horrible society to try to live in.
I don’t think depression or insomnia makes you “mad” though.
I’ll admit to suffering from a bit of cabin Fever, with all this blasted rain we’re getting on the east coast. Three long pelting storms, in as many weeks. One pre-Irene, an earthquake, then the named hurricane, and now whats left of TS-Lee. An who knows what’s coming next? Katia or Maria? Give me last summer’s drought, over this! The water is starting to find new ways to leak in, we never knew existed. It may be an old
house. But I’ll bet that even some new ones are springing leaks. There’s a lot of empty shelves at the hardware store, for cement patch mix and chalk. And a run on sump pumps too. I use to love sound of rain. But in the last month, I’ve learned to dread every drop I hear, hit the house. I think a lot of this depression, world wide, is weather related.
Actually the phrase, “Mad as hatters” comes from a time when dress hats were made from felt. And a process using Mercury was used to stiffen the hats’ shape. And this lead to poisoning, of hat makers. Leading to what appeared as madness.
Anywho, it’s interesting that these Big Drug makers are calling for governments to step in and fund their research, so they can then profit from a new drug that cost them very little (or nothing) to develop. And yet these very same companies lobbied big time against any Nation Health Care in the US. In fact they’ve got Tea Partyers screaming that they’ll repeal Obamacare, if elected. But it’s apparently OK, to have the gov, and taxpayers, help out the poor drug makers. What sheer hypocrisy!!! How do any of these bastards sleep at night? And are they crazier than the citizens who desperately need the mental health care? I am glad that I am not a career politician or a rich CEO of some exploitative medical manufacturer. Because they are clearly all INSANE!!
#26–Glenn==rain is nice: in moderation. Sun is nice: in moderation. Even San Diego gets boring–its needs more rain. Nothing like the smell of good clean air after a rain.
Wouldn’t it be “nice” if we could just call up the weather/temps we wanted every day? Just waiting for my infinite number of universes ((ON DEMAND)) to be developed.
You say: “I think a lot of this depression, world wide, is weather related.” /// Yes, it is. See the thread on the Sun’s COSMIC RAYS!!! They directly affect sulfur compounds in the air, but you know what else has sulfur compounds? Yes: the human brain. No truth to the rumor that increasing co2 levels is affecting human depression: just everyone denying it is whats doing it.
Ha, ha.
Of course, you realize that this is not localized to Europeans. Add in the increasing fattening statistics of Americans and you find that somewhere around 93% of the population of the US is religiously insane, far overweight, clinically incompetent and illogical.
God bless us, every one.