EU and mental health
07-03-2008

It is of great importance that one does not forget the socially marginalized senior citizens, who have a mental disorder when it comes to the development of the treatment methods and the solicitude methods in the health services and in the social services, because this happens too often. This happens for one in Denmark, but also other EU countries tend to forget. Or they tend to think that socially marginalized people have the same needs as all other citizens.   

The European Commission has recently begun to follow up on the Green Paper: Improving the mental health of the population: Towards a strategy on mental health for the European Union, which was published in October 2005. There must be drawn up a number of papers and a overriding plan must be passed at a high scale conference in June. 

In the same way as within the social area, the health services are solely a matter for each member state. But the EC can inspire with knowledge and let the countries speak with each other, and thereby create mutual, necessary strategies.

Thursday, February 28^th 2008, I was, as a representative of projekt UDENFOR in the light of our work with the mentally ill in the streets, invited to participate in a meeting where the topic was senior citizens with heavy mental disorders. This provided me with the opportunity to work on drawing attention to the considerations about the psychiatric patients, whom also are socially marginalized, homeless and heavy drug users, and getting this topic onto the agenda of the EU.

On this two years old Green Paper, socially marginalized people are not mentioned with one word. The debate concerning an improvement of the mental state of health of the European populations is in the report only about the mainstream populations. Unfortunately, I believe that this also could be the result this time. 

I gave a short speech at the meeting about social exclusion, poverty, solitude and homelessness amongst mentally disordered people, senior citizens as well as younger citizens, whom also have other problems besides their mental disorder. And I pointed out that changes following age often reach marginalized persons earlier compared to the average population. I pointed out that it is necessary to consider prevention, treatment and social effort, and that the question about collaboration between different sectors is of high importance. In addition to this, I raised the question about outgoing and outreaching work, and more in general the need of support and contact of longer duration.

Even though the debate at large referred to other topics concerning senior citizens with a mental disorder, we subsequently entered the topic about the need to graduate the effort depending on the needs of the different groups, the importance of paying attention to the particular needs of particularly vulnerable groups, for instance elderly immigrants with a mental disorder.

EU works with concepts such as Social Protection, Social Inclusion and Social Reality and this is where the debate concerning socially marginalized people with a mental disorder fits in.      

Because of this, there is reason to hope that also the homeless with a mental disorder, people with a double diagnosis, lonely people and poor people with a mental disorder, elders as well as young people, will be mentioned at the upcoming conferences as groups of citizens that the member states need to place their focus at. There is a need of special efforts and initiatives towards these groups, and the efforts, which are already being made provide opportunities to exchange methods and ideas.

But it will not be one of the topics at the next conference without a further presentation of knowledge and good practise in this area. projekt UDENFOR will in collaboration with relevant international organizations make sure that data on the subject will be available.

Preben Brandt