Tough economic situation has delayed effect on mental health statistics

People struggle on at work and take their worries home

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By Jenni Frilander
     
      The economic slump increases people’s anxiety, depression, and stress.
      However, this is not reflected immediately in increased absenteeism from work due to illness, or in queues for mental health services. The bare statistics fail to convey the simple truth that people just try to cope and soldier on.
      “During these uncertain times, people do not want to look like they are not doing well at the workplace", says Aku Kopakkala, head psychologist at the private medical clinic Mehiläinen.
      “People struggle on until they are at home, and the uncertainty is seen in their home life."
     
Kopakkala does not see the frequency of the use of sick leave as a good mirror of malaise during a slump, because it does not peak until later.
      “A recession is seen in society with a long delay. People’s bad feelings are reflected in absenteeism statistics only when the economic situation is unravelled.”
      “Equally, during a recession, services that are on offer and that can be applied for are scaled back, and people can end up with less treatment. The cuts can take some time to show up as a change for the worse”, says Timo Partonen of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
      The malaise can also easily be masked by physical symptoms, and psychological indisposition is not necessarily even diagnosed.
      “There are tension symptoms, sleeplessness, headaches”, Kopakkala says.
      Nevertheless, depression ranks as the number one diagnosis leading to sick notes. Kopakkala says that depression is the cause of a third to a half of all medically-assigned sick leaves.
      “[The Social Insurance Institution] KELA does not accept exhaustion as a reason for sick leave, so depression is a common diagnosis”, Kopakkala explains.
     
For some, an economic recession also brings a measure of relief.
      “For many without a job it is easier if a recession is on and 'there is no work to be had'. They can say that it’s all society’s fault, and that the individual's own efforts don't add up to much in a situation like this", Kopakkala observes.
      However, Partonen notes that it is up to the individual to come up with meaningful things to do with the extra free time.
      “At first, the experience can be positive, but when it lasts for a long time, the situation can also turn sour.”
      In any case, creativity, inventiveness, and helping one's mates all take a back seat among those who do have a job during a recession, as people concentrate on coping with their own tasks.
      “Creativity comes out when people are in good spirits, feel safe, and have free time. Creative and inventive development do not really go well together with a recession”, Kopakkala says.
     
Students also take on some of the burden of the sorrows of a recession.
      “Mental health problems are the most important individual factor that threatens the ability to study, and without sufficient treatment, they also make it difficult to cope with life at work”, says Päivi Pynnönen, head physician at the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS).
      Students’ queues to mental health care have grown over the years so that at the moment, students have to wait for non-urgent care for the maximum period of time allowed under the treatment guarantee system - six months.
      In order to adhere to the time limits on the treatment guarantee system, Pynnönen says that FSHS has to cut back on long-term psychotherapeutic treatment.
     
Annually around 1.5 per cent of the Finnish population will fall ill with some sort of a mental disorder.
      One in five Finns suffers from some form of mental disturbance. Difficult disturbances increase the risk of an untimely death.
      Between five and six per cent of the population suffer from severe depression. Of all illnesses it is nearly the most common cause for incapacitation.
      An individual is regarded as mentally healthy when he can independently cope with everyday activities (human relationships, daily moving about, work, and spare time) in such a way that it does not cause problems to the person himself or those around him.
      Mental health equals being aware of one’s own potential and having the drive to realise and increase one’s own possibilities and acceptance of oneself. When one’s goals and mental ability to function do not meet, a person is indisposed and can be said to suffering from a mental disorder.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 10.8.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Using the Internet to tame the "black dog" of depression (7.4.2009)

Links:
  Mental disorder (Wikipedia)
  Finnish Student Health Service
  National Institute for Health and Welfare

JENNI FRILANDER / Helsingin Sanomat
jenni.frilander@hs.fi