U.N. Report Cites Mental Problems

GENEVA -- One in four people in the world will be affected by mental health
or brain disorders during their lives, but few of them will seek or receive
help, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Some 450 million people suffer from mental and neurological conditions such
as depression, schizophrenia and dementia. But despite this, about 40
percent of countries have no mental health policy, it said.

Two thirds of countries spent 1 percent or less of their health budget on
mental health, and half had only one psychiatrist per 100,000 people.

"Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope" was the theme of the U.N.
agency's annual health report.

The report also gave statistics showing the number of years spent in
reasonably good health.

The Japanese had the highest healthy-life expectancy rates at 73.8 years,
followed by Switzerland at 72.1 and San Marino at 72. Average healthy-life
expectancy in the United States was 67.2 years.

Sierra Leone was at the bottom of the list with just 29.5 years of
reasonable health.

"Mental illness is not a personal failure," said WHO Director-General Gro
Harlem Brundtland. "If there is a failure, it is to be found in the way we
have responded to people with mental and brain disorders."

With the proper treatment, people with mental illness can lead productive
lives and be vital parts of their communities, the report said.

More than 80 percent of people with schizophrenia could be free of relapses
at the end of one year of treatment with anti-psychotic drugs and adequate
family support. Up to 60 percent of sufferers of depression could recover
with the proper combination of antidepressants and therapy. Up to 70
percent of epileptics could be seizure free if treated with simple,
inexpensive anti-convulsants, it said.

But even when help is available, nearly two thirds of people with a known
mental disorder never seek professional help, often because of shame.

The report said one million people committed suicide every year, while 10
to 20 million attempted to kill themselves.

The poor were hardest hit.

"The lack of access to affordable treatment makes the course of the illness
more severe and debilitating, leading to a vicious circle of poverty and
mental health disorders that is rarely broken," WHO said.

The agency urged governments to draw up better policies on mental problems,
including alcohol and drug abuse.

It said governments should shift away from large psychiatric hospitals,
which are too restrictive and prone to human rights abuses, and introduce
better community care programs.

More should be done to ensure availability of essential medicines, it said.
About 25 percent of countries don't have the three most commonly prescribed
drugs to treat schizophrenia, depression and epilepsy.