NAPLES (ITALPRESS) – Mental health is critical to people’s well-being and is a major public health priority. It was precisely on this theme that the event ‘The importance of innovative health policies to support mental health in Campania’ was held today at the Campania Regional Council, promoted by Johnson & Johnson together with various stakeholders in the Campania Regional Health system. An initiative aimed at identifying proposals in the organizational and management spheres for better care of patients with mental disorders in the region. The event provided an important opportunity to discuss critical issues related to these topics, including the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, improving accessibility to services and the need for a more integrated approach between territory and hospital. In addition, they discussed interventions to ensure widespread and personalized care for patients, with particular attention to the work and school context, and the need for greater awareness among families and Third Sector associations. Among the proposals that emerged was the establishment of a Regional Mental Health Day, with the aim of raising awareness and raising consciousness about mental health in the territory, working together on the stigma that still revolves around this issue, and drawing attention to the importance of actions to support patients and their families. Globally and nationally, mental disorders represent one of the most pressing health challenges. In Italy, about 3 million people suffer from depression, the leading cause of disability according to the World Health Organization and one of the most frequent mental disorders. Campania is no exception: in 2022, the rate of new patients treated for mental disorders was 58.7 per 10,000 inhabitants . During the same period, 13.9 new users per 10,000 inhabitants were treated for depression in the region. A survey by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità covering the two-year period 2022-2023 shows that the region is in line with the national average for prevalence of depressive symptoms (5.7 percent), requests for help (60.3 percent) and average days spent in poor physical (10.1) and mental (14.7) health within a month. However, the average number of days with limitations in daily activities (9.9) is higher than the average .As part of the event, ten proposals were presented by the experts with the aim of intercepting individuals with mental health needs early and optimizing territorial care especially in the Campania Region: Establishment of a regional technical table for nutrition and eating disorders, following the Regional Law of 28/11/2024.Update of the PDTA on psychopathological onset, elaborated in 2019.Psycho-oncology pathways in oncology PDTAs with training of specialized professionals.Direct and free access to mental health services.Investment in greater collaboration between child neuropsychiatry and psychiatry.Simplification of prescribing of innovative therapies, reducing red tape.Investments in e-mental health (telepsychiatry, teleconsultation, electronic health record) for complex chronicities.Specific training for nurses working in mental health and for psychologists working in schools and workplaces.Involvement of Third Sector Associations and users/family members in prevention, anti-stigma and care activities.Awareness-raising initiatives on mental health and in particular the proposal to establish a Regional Mental Health Day in CampaniaThe meeting took place at a crucial time for mental health, with the aim of strengthening the network of services and improving the quality of life of patients and their families. The discussion was attended by professionals in the field, institutions and citizens, to plan together for a better future of mental health in Campania.’Mental health is today a real emergency, to which structural responses must be given that can no longer be postponed,’ said Valeria Ciarambino, vice president of the Campania Regional Council.’Since I joined the regional council, I have chosen to deal with it, and today in Campania I am proud to be able to say that we have a law under my signature on Eating Disorders. Moreover, having taken part in the workshop on the issues of ‘Innovative health policies in support of mental health in Campaniaà, held in the regional council last December, I intended to make my own all the conclusions of this table, collecting them in a motion that I have filed in recent days and that I hope can be approved as soon as possible by the entire regional council so as to give vigor to initiatives that improve the effectiveness of treatments, the appropriateness of care pathways and strengthen the network in support of those who experience a mental health problemè.’The initiatives to be undertaken to protect mental health are many and urgent,’ stressed Andrea Fiorillo, Full Professor of Psychiatry c/o the University of Campania ‘L. Vanvitelli’ and President of the European Psychiatric Association, the European Society of Psychiatry.’First of all, from a clinical point of view, it is necessary to improve care pathways starting with early diagnosis, which is fundamental for timely treatment, particularly for pathologies such as depression, especially because the age of onset of mental disorders has been greatly lowered. The issue of mental health must be present not only in treatment centers but also in schools and workplacesò. ‘Programming and planning today passes through listening, and listening must be first and foremost of those who live the problems,’ pointed out Tommaso Pellegrino, Regional Councilor of the Campania Region. ‘This is what initiatives like today’s are for, and this is what the Regional Day on Mental Health for which I have submitted a proposal to establish it will be for. March 17, this is the day identified, for me should not only be a day to turn attention to the issue of mental health, but an opportunity to organize real States General of Mental Health, so as to give concreteness to the Commitments that all of us actors in the system have made so far and those that we will make for the future.’Compared to when the model of mental health centers was set up more than half a century ago to carry out what was prescribed by the psychiatric reform law, as society has undergone enormous transformations, we must prospect, looking to the future, for a remodulation of services that responds to the new needs of mental distress – the words of Giulio Corrivetti, Director of the Department of Mental Health of ASL Salerno, Vice President of the Campania Regional Section of the Italian Society of Psychiatry and Coordinator of the steering committee for social-health integration ASL Salerno -. We are now faced with social and individual tensions that send us back a whole new picture of mental pathologies. Suffice it to say that more than 75% of onset today occurs between the ages of 0 and 24. Here is where an issue of no longer just accompanying chronic conditions, but of interception and early diagnosis becomes crucial. Mental health centers today must ‘unpack’ the offer, embrace this role of proximity, use new technologies, be able to revise in an attractive and proactive way, for young people, the forms of taking charge, of reception, of accompaniment. ‘Progetto Itaca Napoli ODV has as its main objective the active involvement of associations in regional discussion tables and projects related to mental health,’ explained Marco Licenziati, Referent Progetto Itaca Napoli. ‘It is essential to combat the stigma that still affects those who experience mental distress, while favoring their reintegration into the social and labor fabric, giving them back the dignity and opportunities they deserve. In this context, it is also essential to recognize the central role of caregivers, who not only offer emotional support to people with mental disorders, but are also key figures in the entire care pathway. It is therefore essential that caregivers also receive the right support in terms of training and services, in order to ensure a complete and effective care process.’It is evident that mental illness is on the rise throughout the country, for social and contextual reasons,’ emphasized Gennaro Sosto, General Director of the Salerno A.S.L.. ‘It therefore becomes truly essential to proactively intercept the needs of these patients as early as possible with respect to a territory that by its very nature presents great heterogeneity. With this in mind, it is important to work for ever greater synergy between the social and health sides and to look for solutions that facilitate territorial proximity. For example, we have worked on a reality such as ‘community stores’ that are designed precisely as antennas capable of intercepting needs even in the most peripheral areas, such as inland areas, acting as a link with the primary mental health network. ‘Johnson & Johnson has always been committed to improving the approach to mental disorders, aiming to ensure appropriate management and equitable access to treatment,’ commented Monica Gibellini, Director Government Affairs, Policy & Patient Engagement at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. For example, we are actively involved in promoting awareness about depression, thanks to initiatives such as the ‘Out of the Mazè awareness campaign, carried out in collaboration with Progetto Itaca Ets and Cittadinanzattiva Aps. We believe that raising awareness is crucial to overcoming stigma and offering support to those suffering from mental disorders. We work daily with patients, caregivers and associations to break down discrimination and respond to concrete needs, in line with our CREDO’. ‘Initiatives like this, which involve institutions and experts in the field, are fundamental for the future of mental health, particularly in the Campania Region, and we look forward to continuing this path of collaboration together,’ Gibellini concluded.
– credit photo Valentino Ruggero -(ITALPRESS).
