One in eight persons suffers mental disorder globally: WHO report

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on global mental health highlights the pressing need of investment in this field, saying about one in eight people live with mental disorder.

This report is the largest review of global mental health in two decades by WHO.

It highlights the role of COVID-19 in creating a global crisis for mental health, fuelling short- and long-term stresses and undermining the mental health of millions.

According to the report, the rise in both anxiety and depressive disorders was more than 25% during the first year of the pandemic.

“Business as usual for mental health simply will not do,” says WHO in this report urging the mental health decision makers to step up commitment and action to change attitudes, actions and approaches to mental health.

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The report also significantly highlights the gaps in the treatment of mental health patients and how they widened during the pandemic.

The notable fact is that the prevalence of different mental disorders varies with sex and age.

"In both males and females, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders are the most common," the report said.

It also indicated that suicides are connected to mental health disorders. Globally, there may be 20 suicide attempts to every one death, and yet suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths.

According to this report, two-thirds of low-income countries reporting to WHO in 2020 did not include mental health care in national health insurance schemes.

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“This means that people in need have to fund their care themselves, often spending significantly,” it said.

The report highlighted that, in India and other low income countries, expenditure on mental health care significantly increases the likelihood of a household outspending its resources, leading to debt and poverty.

The report cites a study conducted on a sample size in Goa which shows how depressed women were three times more likely to spend more than half their monthly household expenditure on out-of-pocket health care costs as compared to other women.

The report further says that that too many people living with mental health conditions are not getting the care they need and deserve.

Highlighting how the right to work has been violated for people with a mental health condition, the report said that people are frequently excluded from community life and denied basic rights.

“Many children and adolescents living with mental health conditions are sent to segregated schools that tend to provide lower-quality education, or they are institutionalised in facilities that provide no or highly-limited education,” it added.