Major issues with mental health in Spain?
The suicide of Spanish actor Verónica Forqué has reignited the debate about mental health in Spain. According to statistics, twelve percent of the population takes tranquillisers, and incidence rates for panic attacks, hypochondria and obsessive-compulsive disorders are rising sharply. Commentators look for causes and bemoan the lack of government action.
Fifty cents per inhabitant won't go far
ABC calls for more public funding:
“The consequences of the economic collapse at the end of the 2010s or the pandemic have created a 'new normal' that has multiplied mental disorders. ... At the political level, the left is trying to take the lead in tackling this problem, even if it hasn't yet decided to go the distance from simply identifying the problem to implementing effective measures. ... A glance at the microscopic level of investment in the mental health plan suffices: not even 90 million euros from now until 2024, an investment of half a euro per inhabitant per year ... Those who don't even come close to making the necessary investments have neither understood the scale of the problem nor want to resolve it.”
Media's clamour damaging mental health
La Vanguardia sees two causes for the decline in mental health in Spain:
“The other pandemic, which goes hand in hand with Covid, is that of mental disorders, which have increased dramatically. ... The impact on people's state of mind is primarily due to the harsh reality of these times. ... But there is a second factor: the black and dramatic 24/7 coverage of the pandemic by the authorities and the media in a country where citizens watch four and a half hours of television per day. This is a harmful media clamour to which the population is constantly exposed and that should be restricted in the interest of mental health and the collective mood.”