Ukrainians seek psychological assistance from family doctors three times more often in 2024 – Ministry of Health

Citizens of Ukraine in 2024 began to turn to family doctors for mental health issues three times more often.

The Ministry of Health reported this.

The most common symptoms are feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and tension.

In all, more than 353,000 patients sought help from family doctors, therapists, and pediatricians for mental health issues during the first nine months of 2024. Of these, 54,400 were children under the age of 18.

This is over three times more than last year's figures.

Most often, Ukrainians complained about:

• feeling of anxiety, nervousness, or tension – 150.2 thousand;
• sleep disorders – 98 thousand;
• other psychological symptoms – 58.6 thousand;
• depressed mood – 20.7 thousand;
• inapropriate behavior or symptoms in children – 15,100;
• acute reaction to stress – 14.5 thousand;
• memory impairment – 12.9 thousand;
• tobacco abuse – 10.1 thousand;
• feeling irritated or angry – 6.5 thousand;
• unpleasant feelings or behavior of older adults – 6.3 thousand.

For reference:

Rubryka reported that family doctors and therapists in Ukraine can offer mental health services. These services primarily consist of low-intensity psychological support, and medication is typically not necessary for patients, just psychological assistance.

Family doctors can help manage the following:

• stress,
• tension,
• negative emotions,
• sleep disorders,
• panic attacks.

To accomplish this, they receive training through the World Health Organization's "mhGAP" program, precisely the course on "Management of common mental disorders at the primary level of medical care."

The Health Insurance Program covers mental health services provided by therapists and family doctors and is, therefore, free of charge.

The World Federation of Mental Health, with support from the World Health Organization, has observed World Mental Health Day every October 10 since 1992.

According to new data from the World Health Organization, about 10 million people in Ukraine are at risk of mental disorders, and with the approach of winter, the situation is becoming more and more tense.

According to reports, there was an announcement that a festival would take place in a psychiatric hospital in Lviv on October 10. Rubryka has provided further details about the event.