Three out of four young people feel the need for psychological support. The discomfort is more pronounced among women: 87.3% say they have felt the need for support in the last 5 years compared to 61.8% of men. The National Youth Council (Cng) – a consultative body on youth policies established by Law 145 of 2018 – today released the results of a new survey on the mental health of young Italians, carried out with the technical support of Eures, economic and social research. According to the report, which involved 1,100 young people between the ages of 15 and 35, 75% of those interviewed felt the need for psychological support in the last five years, but only 27.9% received the necessary help.
In the age groups between 20 and 29, the request for psychological support appears to be particularly acute, with values close to 80% (78.5% among 20-24 year-olds and 78.8% among 25-29 year-olds), falling to the lowest value among 30-35 year-olds (60%) and 15-19 year-olds (64.1%). Finally, the request for help is higher among young people living in the Central (79.4%) and Southern (76.8%) regions, falling slightly in the North (71.8%), where, despite the welfare levels being higher than the rest of the sample, psychological distress and the implicit request for greater support remains largely the majority.
“Our study highlights the urgent need for concrete actions to address a real emergency,” says Maria Cristina Pisani, president of Cng. And considering the data that highlights the differences between women and men, “the importance of targeted interventions that take into account gender specificities” emerges, she adds.
President Pisani, ‘we need a national plan for more mental health services and a basic psychologist institution’
“In recent years, the National Youth Council – continues President Pisani – has worked intensely to raise awareness and support institutions in implementing effective policies. Everyone’s commitment must focus on policies that guarantee accessibility, timeliness and continuity of care, customizing interventions based on individual needs. It is crucial that institutions and families pay more attention to this issue, especially in a historical period like the current one”.
For the president of the Cng, “a permanent and organic national plan is needed that allows us to strengthen and increase mental health support services. We need psychological counseling desks in high schools and universities, accessible free of charge to all students”.
It also appears “essential to introduce the figure of the primary care psychologist into the national health system, as has already been successfully tested in some territorial health districts, an initiative that should go hand in hand with an awareness campaign to overcome the stigma associated with seeking psychological help and promote greater awareness of the importance of mental health among the younger generations, considering that only 27.9% of girls and boys have turned to a professional and received the help they requested. The loneliness and abandonment that too many girls and boys experience must be avoided. We must ensure that access to care is not a privilege reserved for a few”, he concludes.
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