SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct. 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The plenary session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands has claimed this Monday, on the occasion of ‘World Mental Health Day’, this year under the motto ‘Like mental health. For the right to grow in well-being’, “comprehensive and quality care, universal access and equal conditions to care and prevention services”.
An institutional statement from the Chamber states that mental health “is a reality that is too serious, too harsh, for a date like today’s to go unnoticed because of all that it means, because of how much it contains and, above all, because this date, this day, is just an attempt to remember a problem suffered by millions of people in the world 365 days a year”.
The Chamber also points out that one in seven people between the ages of 10 and 19 suffers from a mental disorder; half of mental health problems appear before the age of 14; one out of every four young people declares having taken psychotropic drugs and nine out of every hundred young people says they have experienced thoughts of suicide continuously or very frequently.
In addition, the Canary Islands is the fifth autonomous community in Spain that uses services such as those of the Red Cross the most to request psychological care for emotional discomfort related to anxiety, stress or depression and the consultations made by minors have multiplied by five.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, the socioeconomic consequences derived from the eruption in La Palma or, despite its geographical distance, the war in Ukraine are circumstances that complicate emotional and mental stability in a territory, the Canary Islands, where almost 30 percent percent of the population suffers from a health problem of these characteristics,” the text states.
71 percent of people with psychosis in the world do not receive any type of care related to mental health and this reality is aggravated in those countries where incomes are lower, where only 12 percent can benefit from some coverage.
As for depression, only a third of people who suffer from it receive formal care, while only between 23 and 3 percent of affected people benefit from minimal treatment, depending on whether they are from countries with high or lower-middle income.
A “VERY UNEQUAL” REALITY
The Chamber assumes that there is a “very unequal reality” due to the many circumstances that exist around mental health for economic, gender, educational, age or geographic reasons.
Therefore, it indicates, “it is essential to implement measures that contribute to improving the quality of life of people with mental health problems and, also, of their families.”
For this reason, he understands that it is the “obligation” of the institutions to promote mental health among the population and the defense of their rights.
“We can be all of us, any of us, of us. It can be our father, our mother; it can be our brothers or sisters. It can be our sons, our daughters. We must get involved in a necessary change of vision but, we insist, possible”, point out from Parliament.
Along these lines, he insists that this is demonstrated by the commitment signed by the member countries of the World Health Organization for the implementation of a comprehensive action plan with a 2030 horizon, where that “firm will” to transform mental health is expressed.
The Chamber has also appealed to “end stereotypes and stigmas historically associated with people with mental health problems” and insisted that “anyone” can be affected by the circumstances in which they live.
