Number of mental disorder cases rising in Slovakia

In regard to the World Mental Health Day, which is observed on 10 October, the National Centre of Health Information (NCZI) presented statistics on this issue. The number of people admitted to hospital for mental disorders rose by 405 on an annual basis last year, while the figure was as much as 5,280 higher than in 2005. A total of 382,655 people (57.2 percent of whom were women) of the country's 5.42-million population were treated by psychiatrists' last year, which was up by 2.5 percent compared to 2013. In total, 64,365 people were diagnosed with mental disorders for the first time - up by 8.9 percent y-o-y. Among the most frequent problems were affective disorders (26.5 percent) and neurotic, stress-induced and somatoform disorders (21.4 percent), with women making up 69 percent and 66 percent of the two groups, respectively. The centre noted that even though treatment of mental disorders is easily accessible with excellent prospects, almost two thirds of people suffering from such illnesses don't go to see a doctor, mainly due to fear of possible discrimination and shame.