Innovative Approaches in Mental Health in Post-Covid Era
Brussels, 30th November 2021 – The COVID-19 pandemic is being followed by the mental health crisis. According to the MEP Alliance for Mental Health in the European Parliament and leading European experts, the EU needs a coordinated action in the field of mental health.
Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic causes an overall decrease of the mental health of Europeans and the mental health disorders such as depression, risk of suicide or anxiety disorders are on the rise. As a result, the European Parliament urges the European Commission to act. “Due to the impacts of the global pandemic, the time is now for a coordinated EU action in the field of mental health. That is why the MEPs Alliance for Mental Health supports the idea of the EU’s Strategy on Mental Health,” says MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, Co-chair of the MEP Alliance for Mental Health (EPP, Czech Republic).
According to the MEP Maria Walsh, Co-chair of the MEP Alliance for Mental Health (EPP, Ireland): “In the European Parliament, the mental health has a very wide support across the political parties." This has been further supported by MEP Alex Agius Saliba, Co-chair of the MEP Alliance for Mental Health (S&D, Malta) who stated that “the MEP Alliance for Mental Health advocates for the year 2023 to be the European Year of Mental Health”.
Scientific Community Calls for Innovative Approaches
Leading experts from academia confirmed that mental health problems are on the rise in Europe. Moreover, the scientists also pointed out that traditional treatments no longer provide sufficient help. Therefore, public authorities should support innovative approaches in the field of mental health. Amongst the others, the experts debated the potential of psychedelic substances in therapies and emphasised that their therapeutic efficacy is being supported by promising early clinical trials.
According to prof. Jiří Horáček, Head of Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague and a Deputy Director for Research and Development at Czech National Institute for Mental Health, “The effect of psychedelics is linked to clinical effects. They act as anti-depressants in hours or days, compared to classical anti-depressants which act only in weeks."
“Old compounds (classical anti-depressants) seem to lose their efficiency. Over the last decade there has been an increase in clinical trials with psychedelic substances with promising findings,” added prof. Eric Vermetten from Leiden University who is a clinical psychiatrist working with veterans and other uniformed officers as a Strategic Advisor of the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
EU Falls Behind Other Countries
The use of psychedelic substances in therapy for treatment of resistant depression or post-traumatic stress disorder has been recently approved in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the breakthrough therapy label. At the same time, the use of psychedelics in palliative care has been endorsed by public health authorities in Canada.
Prof. Eric Vermetten mentioned that “Whilst many universities in Canada, the USA, or the UK have departments dedicated to psychedelic research, there are a few institutions of this kind in the EU”. In reaction, prof. Jiří Horáček stated: “the EU should aspire to be a global leader in mental health. Due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health (including innovative approaches), should be high on the agendas of the EU institutions as well as of the upcoming Presidencies of the Council of the EU”.