25% of the world’s population will have a mental health problem at some point in their lives. This is stated by the United Nations (UN) which, a year before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, already warned that almost 1,000 million people suffered from some psychological disorder globally.
In Spain, the prevalence of anxiety and depression has shown an increasing trend since 1990. In fact, the data determine that these problems are the first cause of loss of years of life due to the high impact they have on the quality of it.
In addition, it should be noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by 2030 mental health problems will be the leading cause of disability in the world. That is why this same body has called for all the agents involved to collaborate with each other in order to deepen the value and commitment attributed to this aspect, reorganize the environments that affect their deterioration (workplaces, schools, homes …) and strengthen the systems in which people’s mental health is treated.
This is a request to which the Mutua Madrileña Foundation has joined, which has initiated a new line of work to stop the deterioration of mental health in society based on medical research and studies and reports to provide solutions.
Fundación Mutua Madrileña establishes different lines of action to combat the deterioration of mental health in Spain
Precisely, the most complete radiography that reflects the current situation of our country has been prepared by the foundation together with the Mental Health Confederation Spain and concludes that four out of ten Spaniards (39.3%) value their mental health negatively. The data are especially worrying among young people, where one in three young people (36.2%) has ever been diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to the Youth Barometer. Health and Wellness, carried out by the Mutua Madrileña Foundation and the FAD Youth Foundation.
Faced with this situation and coinciding with its 20th anniversary, the Mutua Madrileña Foundation has expanded its areas of work to include mental health in its action plan. It will be a support that will provide in a comprehensive way and whose objective is focused on helping people who suffer from this type of problems, as well as their families.
The actions will be developed in collaboration with social and private entities, establishing various initiatives that contribute to reducing their impact on the population. In this sense, different actions that serve to care, prevent and raise awareness about mental health will be promoted, as well as measures that help improve it, since Spaniards indicate that this issue considerably influences their general well-being (4.5 points out of 5).
Lines of work to promote mental health
According to the report The situation of mental health in Spain, 74.7% of the population considers that their mental health has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such as economic difficulties (91.4%), uncertainty about the future (89%) and pressure, demands and day-to-day stress (88.8%) are the most repeated causes among respondents to reach this conclusion.
Since its origins in 2003, the Mutua Madrileña Foundation has been committed to people’s health, developing an intense activity and allocating more than 90 million euros to its improvement through the financing of more than 1,400 clinical studies or its different programs to support the rehabilitation of people with serious illnesses.
On the occasion of this 20th anniversary, the foundation will finance four investigations in child and adolescent mental health to contribute to an effective approach to these pathologies in both groups, where the data indicate that the incidence is growing. Two of these studies will be related to the treatment for anorexia nervosa from transcranial magnetic stimulation and to precision medicine for a differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder from the first psychotic episode.
Medical research, studies and reports, prevention, awareness-raising, advocacy and support programmes to improve mental health
But the mental health support contemplated by the Mutua Madrileña Foundation goes further and also reaches non-professional caregivers of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative dementias. As a result of cooperation with the Spanish Alzheimer’s Confederation, a program has been implementeda training to equip them with the basic skills to do their job better, help them reduce the stress of constant dedication to their dependent relatives, and provide them with resources to better understand the disease.
It also has a pilot project of comprehensive intervention in schools to help victims of bullying in the process of psychological recovery and in the prevention of serious symptoms due to bullying. The Peer Harassment Program was created in 2022 with the collaboration with the Official College of Psychology of Madrid and the Community of Madrid.
In short, the Mutua Madrileña Foundation has created a program with different initiatives and actions to improve the mental health of the population in Spain. The actions are focused on analyzing, training and researching on this issue in our country, as well as raising awareness and promoting specific measures among the responsible agents to stop the worsening of this essential aspect in people’s health.
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