Greeks’ mental health suffering
More than half of Greeks complain of mental health problems, with stress, insecurity and disappointment among the issues most commonly cited, according to the results of a nationwide survey by the National School of Public Health, known by its acronym ESDY.
Over half of the 2,005 adults polled (53.9 percent) said their mental health had not been good over the past month due to stress, depression or other emotional problems. A quarter (24.8 percent) of respondents, identified poor physical or mental health as causing problems in their daily lives.
A total of 15 percent said they felt insecurity, anxiety and fear, with 14 percent citing anger and frustration, 9.7 percent complaining of depression and sadness, 8.2 percent of stress and 44.6 percent citing all these ailments.
Four in 10 (42.6 percent) said they only enjoyed their lives “moderately” and one in 10 said they thought their lives had little or no meaning.
The findings came as official figures showed that cases of depression rose from 2.6 percent of the population in 2008 to 4.7 percent in 2015.
Responding to broader questions about their health and lifestyle, 20 percent of those polled said their diets had been insufficient over the past month due to low finances.
According to health sector experts, however, the repercussions of the economic crisis on citizens’ health are less severe than many had feared. In comments to Kathimerini, Yiannis Kyriopoulos, a professor of health economics at the ESDY, said the findings of the study “simply observe a slowdown in the improvement of health indicators.”
