World Mental Health Day: Time for a Mental Bailout of Europe’s Youth

European Youth Forum

Brussels, 10th October 2011 . Negative equity, instability, inequality, uncertainty, austerity, lack of opportunity: the impacts of the global financial crisis can be seen all around us. On 10th October, World Mental Health Day, it is time to consider the often hidden effects that unemployment and financial insecurity is having in Europe, particularly on young people.

The economic and social pressures facing young people since the onset of the global economic crisis is undeniable. Despite being the most educated generation ever, the transition from education to employment is increasingly difficult for young people. In September 2011 Eurostat reported that in the EU, the youth unemployment rate was 21%, which is more than double that of the adult population.

Such high levels on unemployment will undoubtedly have social and health consequences. The European Youth Forum, in cooperation with the University of Maastricht has produced an Academic Study focusing on Unemployment, Mental Health and Well-Being in Youth.

The study analyses the relation between the rising unemployment rates amongst European youth and their mental health and well-being. The main findings follow the line of the latest research of the WHO, which have acknowledged that in recent years there has been an increase in mental health issues among youth, including: anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm.

There is a lack of specific data on young people and mental health, but the WHO estimates that 10-20% of young people in Europe suffer from mental health issues, this figure is much higher among disadvantaged young people and migrants. Suicide remains the third most common cause of death among young people in Europe.

Young people have traditionally been more prone to mental health issues. There are many physiological and sociological reasons for this, but one core factor is that late adolescence and early adulthood is closely bound to socio-cultural pressures, with expectations to achieve adult status and autonomy. Young people making the transition from education to working life in recent years have been greeted with an increasingly unstable and volatile labour market, hugely inflated and unaffordable house prices, and a difficult and uncertain path to stable employment.

For many European policy makers the record level of youth unemployment has become a demographic embarrassment and an economic liability. It is also an issue of public health concern. Unemployed individuals consistently experience lower psychological well-being than their employed counterparts. This, coupled with the social pressures of adolescence and early adulthood, has the potential to create a generation of young people suffering from mental anguish and social isolation.

“Positive rhetoric and a focus on youth is always welcome,” says Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum, “but as World Mental Health Day 2011 focuses on "Investing in Mental Health" we must consider the potential impact that cuts to health services, including youth mental health services, could have on young people.”

“As European leaders focus on controlling the financial crisis, they must also be careful to avoid a human recession, particularly amongst young people who have already borne the brunt of the crisis,” he concluded.