It's depressing news but over 1 in 5 adult Flemings experienced serious mental health problems impacting on their daily lives during the past year according to research conducted by 4 Flemish universities and commissioned by health care provider Zorgnet-Icuro. Compared to 2 decades ago, there are now more people with mental disorders and on average the complaints also start at a younger age. Remarkably enough, people wait an average of 10 years before seeking help
About 22 per cent of Flemish adults met the criteria for possessing a mental disorder during the past year. We are talking about disorders that disturb patients’ psychological balance for an extended period of time and have a negative effect on various areas of life including work, social relations, finances and health.
The survey found that 9 per cent of adult Flemings suffered depression in 2023. 12 per cent had an anxiety disorder, 11 per cent an alcohol disorder - i.e. a mental disorder caused by alcohol addiction - and 12 per cent had a so-called externalising disorder i.e. disorders when you cannot control your behaviour and emotions e.g. aggressive behaviour, self-harm and eating disorders.
Depressed at a younger age
According to Zorgnet-Icuro, a group of care institutions, this is the first major survey of the mental well-being of adult Flemings based on scientific data rather than assumptions. "It is a baseline measurement that we want to repeat regularly from now on. In this way, we hope to get a good view of developments. We can already see some clear trends over the past 20 years," says director Margot Cloet.
There are now more adults with mental disorders. There has been an increase of some seven percentage points compared to estimates 20 years ago, though researchers stress that back then only anxiety, mood and alcohol disorders were surveyed. The definition, classification and measurement tools have also changed. So it is difficult to compare with 20 years ago.
"We do see that the group of people with externalising disorders like poor anger management, behavioural problems and eating disorders is growing and that really worries us," says Ms Cloet. "The problems often arise at a younger age. Half of all disorders appear in under 18s years, a quarter even in under 13s."
Depression also develops at an increasingly younger age. In a quarter of people, depression develops before the age of sixteen. In half of people, depression starts around the age of twenty-four, whereas 20 years ago it was at 38.
Anxiety disorders also usually start at 24, but that is slightly later compared to two decades ago. Mental disorders due to excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence start around the age of eighteen.