QWhat is the relationship between Italians and the psychologist? And, more broadly, with mental health? A few days before the mental health day and after the Romens Mental Health Festival held from late September to early October in Rome, it’s time to pull the strings. If it is true that, as an Ipsos survey points out, the number of Italians who take better care of their psyche is on the riseespecially among women and under 35s, however, it is equally true that “we are a people who would have a great desire to go to the psychologist, a country, however, in which health policies do not yet attach sufficient importance to mental health“, explains Carolina Traverso, psychotherapist and mindfulness expert.
Mental as well as physical well-being
According to the Ipsos survey, conducted in conjunction with World Mental Health Day, it would appear that Italians care more about physical rather than mental well-being.
But at the same time, the number of people who are starting to worry about their psychological well-being is on the rise: «The investigation highlights one greater attention in women and under 35s. Furthermore, the same survey found that 80% of respondents maintain that mental and physical health are equally important, thus giving hope. Perhaps we are breaking the taboo that until recently saw mental health problems as something to be kept under the carpet because it was incomprehensible, frightening, unacceptable “, explains the psychotherapist.
Is the psychologist bonus a real help?
A greater interest certainly accentuated by the historical period we are experiencing: «Globalization, the pandemic, migratory phenomena and, this year, the war in Ukraine they put us more in contact with our own and others’ frailtiesleading us to live with an uncertainty that many of us had never experienced before “explains Dr. Traverso who continues” To this are added two great stigmas. The first is how a person who resorts to psychotherapy is perceived in society. Those with a mental health problem may be unfairly considered unreliable and dangerous, and frailty in a hyper-competitive world is frightening. The problem is that this stigma is often internalized even by those who could be helped to get better, who end up believing that going to the psychologist is stuff for weak people, who can’t do it on their own “.
The second is an economic problem. Even today, going to a psychologist is seen as a luxuryas a path that not everyone can afford, not to mention that mental health problems are often seen as a whim that should be passed with a little goodwill.
«However, it is necessary to make an observation. While private psychotherapy offers are clearly not for all budgets, it is true that consider seating a luxury it can hide something that goes beyond the right economic calculations and instead be a way to avoid confronting ourselves with the most fragile parts. This is because psychological suffering is identified as something wrong or frightening, which we prefer not to deal with ».
Bonus psychologist, how much did it really help?
Therefore, based on the situation, how much did the psychologist bonus serve? “Given the boom in questions, it helped a lot to make people aware their mental health and the need to take this aspect more seriously. To date, however, as also stated by the government, the funds allocated will be sufficient only for the expenses of about 10% of those who applied. It is clear that the funds will not be sufficient but it is necessary to go further »explains the expert.
That is, it is it is necessary to review the concept of mental health in Italyreorganize the health system in this sense by increasing investments to increase the number of psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists available so that they can work permanently in the national health system and make access to these therapies easier, explains the expert.
“More investments are needed in prevention, I am thinking of emotional education in schools but also to interventions aimed at reducing social and economic risk factors that can negatively affect mental health. We need lean procedures that allow easy and direct access to psychological care, exactly as happens when we have to take care of our physical health. The psychologist bonus, which is an excellent initiative, brings with it a load of red tape on patients and professionals that can discourage its implementation. It is crucial that no longer believe that protecting everyone’s mental health is a luxury. Far from it, it is an investment for the future and a moral duty which should be guided by values such as the inclusion and protection of those who are most vulnerable, of whatever origin they are ».
How is the situation in the rest of Europe?
Not only Italy though. According to thelatest report from the World Health Organization, one in four people would have mental health problems and, specifically in Europe, the ratio is one in six, or 84 million Europeans. Yet, as the same relationship always shows, European states invest only 2% on mental healthtransforming these problems in real disabilities precisely because they are not treatedas the WHO denounced which dubbed mental health as the Cinderella of medicine.
“Among the European countries, Germany and France invest more in mental health while Italy ranks thirteenth, Luxembourg and Turkey to the last. The fact that Italians worry more is a clear sign of the growth of discomfort »concludes the psychotherapist Carolina Traverso.
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