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European Federation of Psychologists Associations
World Health Day 2019 - Press release
April 7th, World Health Day 2019:
Europe is still lacking sufficient coverage of psychological care
Universal coverage of health is the theme of the World Health Day 2019. One might think this would mainly concern third world countries and not Europe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not all health sectors are developed at the same level and not all kinds of treatment are available for everyone. “This is especially the case for psychological treatments,“ explains Koen Lowet of EFPA’s Standing Committee on Psychology and Health. “Europe is still lacking sufficient coverage of psychological care,” he states.
The impact of mental health problems is enormous but still widely unknown in the general public. One out of three persons will encounter severe mental health problems in their lifetime, including depression, anxiety or substance misuse disorders. Most of these problems originate during childhood or early adolescence. The economic impact on untreated mental health conditions in our society is enormous. Health economists calculate that the loss for our economy could be as big as 4 % of the GDP in Europe.
“And thus it is astonishing to see how little governments even in Europe, invest in good coverage of psychological care, “continues Lowet. “The benefits of sufficient coverage of psychological care could be huge at no extra costs: consider all the savings we could do through fewer admissions in psychiatric hospitals, less expenses on pharmaceutical treatments or physical health problems, more people who return to work or lose their effectiveness at work, and whose social relationships have been affected due to mental health problems.”
Psychology, compared to medicine, is a fairly young science that has developed rapidly nonetheless during the past decades. “Psychology has produced good evidence–based treatments that have an effectiveness of 70%, that’s as good as any medical treatment,” explains Lowet: “besides our treatments don’t really come with any dangerous side–effects, are far less intrusive and can be delivered in the normal, daily environment, not to mention the much lower cost. Ten day’s of hospital admission costs as much as a full year of psychological treatment with weekly sessions!”
So what are we waiting for?
The inequity between the coverage of classic medical care and psychological care is unworthy of a modern western society in Europe. We need to take psychological care to the next level and make it available for all European citizens.
For more information, contact: Koen Lowet (Belgium) – koen.lowet@vvkp.be, clinical psychologist, member of the Standing Committee on Psychology and Health, European Federation of Psychologists Associations.
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Most recent edition:
Vol. 24 Issue no. 1, January 2019
More information and the current issue of the European Psychologist is available here
16th European Congress of Psychology Moscow, Russia, 2-5 July 2019
- Registration is now open
- Registration fees
Publishing options at ECP 2019
There will be several options to share your research results with broader audience through the following publishing opportunities at the 16th European Congress of Psychology:
1. All accepted abstracts will be published in the 16th European Congress of Psychology Book of Abstracts, which will be indexed by the Russian Index of Scientific Citation.
2. Selected extended abstracts (articles) will be published in special issues of Psychology in Russia: State of the Art Journal (indexed in SCOPUS and Web of Science).
3. Extended abstracts may be published in the Behavioral Sciences Journal (indexed in Web of Science). The deadline for Behavioral Sciences Journal has been extended till 15 May 2019!
Please follow the link to learn more
