The Spanish government has approved new funding for mental healthcare as new data shows that mental health leave among the country’s workforce has spiralled by 175 percent since the pandemic, costing taxpayers €15 billion a year.
The Spanish cabinet on Tuesday announced that it would spend €39 million in order to strengthen mental healthcare treatment availability in public hospitals.
It also approved another €17.83 million for the implementation of suicide prevention measures, in line with Spain’s Mental Health Action Plan 2025-2027 and the Suicide Prevention Plan 2025-2027.
Mental health cover is one of the biggest gaps in the public health system in Spain and it seems though people are suffering because of this.
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According to the latest data from the 2023 National Health System Annual Report, 34 percent of the Spanish population has some form of mental health issue.
According to the Ministry of Health, the most common mental health problem is anxiety which affects 6.7 percent of the population with public health cover.
Depression is seen in 4.1 percent of the population and increases with age, while sleep disorders affect 5.4 percent of the population and also increases with age.
Psychoses overall affects 1.2 percent, while dementia is recorded in 3.2 percent of the population aged 60 and over.
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The number of workers on sick leave has continued to rise since the pandemic and particularly mental health leave has risen by 175 percent.
The cost for the health authorities has continued to skyrocket. Public spending as a result of these absences amounts to around €15 billion per year and has increased by almost 80 percent since the pandemic, while the direct impact on businesses has grown by 62 percent, to €4.6 billion.
Particularly worrying is the incidence among young people, which has doubled in recent years.
Spaniards are also the world’s biggest consumers of anti-anxiety medication and the EU’s largest consumers of psychiatric or psychotropic medication, which includes antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, stimulants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilisers.
According to the latest report from the Bank of Spain, 4.4 percent of workers are currently on sick leave and in 2019 it was only 2.7 percent. In total, more than 1.5 million people are on temporary disability. This is equivalent to half of the public administration.
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Patricia Ruiz, Secretary of Occupational Health for Spanish trade union UGT explains that, “Stress, depression, anxiety” are the worst culprits.
According to the data, incidence among those under 35 is striking. “Mental health issues have increased by 325 percent in young people” she warns.
The UGT have criticised the system saying “There’s no follow-up, no attention to their ailments. It’s just like they’re waiting to go through a formality”.
Long waiting lists in public healthcare have also made the situation worse.
Yolanda Díaz, Minister of Labour, acknowledges that waiting lists are very long. “It also has to do with mental health. We live in stressed societies”, and we have “aging” labour markets she explains.
The hope is that by spending money on increasing health programmes and the medical professionals to deal with these issues, less people will suffer and need to go on leave from work.
