Mental health must be a priority for the policies, services and activities of all other sectors, Health Minister Louis Deguara said yesterday

The minister was speaking at a conference titled “The Importance of Employment for Recovery”, organised by the National Mental Health Commission.

Dr Deguara quoted European statistics where one in every four Europeans suffer from some form of mental illness at some point in time.

“Mental illness does not only involve the affected individual, but also involves families, work colleagues and society in general,” he said.

The government is working to place mental health at the centre of health policies and strategies, said Dr Deguara.

“The recent adoption of a National Mental Health Policy started off a new era of mental health in Malta,” he added.

There were several changes made to the mental health sector as well. Several hundreds of people residing at Mount Carmel were de-institutionalised and the hospital itself has undergone several reforms.

The minister explained that the focus in Mount Carmel has shifted to “developing services within the community as this is where we would like people suffering from mental illness to live and work.”

Early detection and referral of a mental illness can be an important step to prevent admission, he added.

He said there is the need for more research into the causes of mental illness and the need for empirical research into successful ways of preventing it.

Dr Deguara said it is worrying that the number of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression is on the increase among children and adolescents.