“Spain is experiencing a critical moment…

The president of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health (SEPSM), Marina Díaz Marsá, warned this Thursday that “Spain is experiencing a critical moment in mental health”, with a growing demand for care by the population that requires increase the number of professionals, 12 per 100,000 inhabitants on average todayto equate it to European average, 18 to 20 per 100,000 inhabitants.

“This reduces our queries to a mere symptom management and often with a long waiting list and not having all the time that patients require for a good bond, for a good approach, and it prevents us from doing reviews as frequently as we would need,” he stated in a meeting with the media where representatives of the SEPSM presented a decalogue on the main concerns of the profession.

Díaz recalled that the White Book on Psychiatry in Spain, published by the society in 2023, already stated that a “significant percentage” of psychiatrists in Spain had more than 60 yearsso it was estimated that It was necessary to recruit about 500 psychiatrists each yeartaking into account retirements. To this, he has added the “flight” of young psychiatrists to other European countries, which worsens the deficit.

The head of the Psychiatry Section at the San Carlos Clinical Hospital has emphasized that Depressive, anxiety and sleep disorders are the most present in consultationswith a “peak of attention” in the child and adolescent population, as well as in the elderly. Likewise, he has warned that this context is combined with “some confusion” among the population. between what is a mental disorder and what is the discomfort of everyday life.

“The discomfort of everyday life is negative emotions, stress that we as individuals experience simply by living. It’s something adaptive, temporary and what we can cope with with our resources and with the support of those close to us. A mental disorder is something very different, it is a deep suffering that affects the overall life of the person and that has a series of diagnostic criteria and a specific treatment,” he explained.

In this context, the Ministry of Health and the autonomous communities approved the Mental Health Action Plan 2025-2027 last year, with a provision of 39 million eurosand the Plan Action for Suicide Prevention 2025-2027, with funding of 18 million. Regarding both initiatives, the SEPSM has criticized the insufficient budget allocated, which makes their implementation difficult.

The secretary of the SEPSM, Pilar Saiz, has delved into the Suicide Prevention Plan, warning that almost a year after its approval “it has not been launched” because its development depends on each autonomous community. Therefore, it has demanded a homogenization and immediate implementation of some linessuch as specific training for professionals.

“Suicide is not something that we can eradicate in our society (…), but we can reduce its numbers very considerably. I believe that suicide is preventable and that much more can be done than what is being done,” said Saiz to then highlight some priorities in care, such as the incorporation of systematic risk detection or continuity of care after an attempt.

Attention to minors, social networks and TCA

Another concern that appears in the decalogue is the use of social networks by adolescents. “We have adolescents who have replaced a type of life in society, on the street, in physical interaction with others, for a type of life stuck at home in front of a screen,” said the deputy secretary of the SEPSM, Carmen Moreno.

At this point, he has warned that young people, when they have doubts, They no longer ask adults or their friends, but rather ask new technologieswho have become “lifestyle prescribers”. “Letting those who prescribe our lives, those who give us the solutions to our problems, be the digital prescribers, that is, the people on social networks, has a really poor impact,” he pointed out.

Moreno has also focused on the growing trivialization of cannabis consumptionwhose easy access through edibles, vapes and other attractive formats lead to a lower perception of risk, despite the consequences it can have, especially among adolescents. “The messages that are being given about cannabis They tend to talk excessively about the benefits and unfortunately the effect it has on the brain is not taken into account. and, above all, about the evolving brain,” he commented.

Also in relation to social networks and minors, psychiatrists have addressed the excessive concern for body worship and healthy livingabout which Marina Díaz has warned as a promoter of mental illness. Specifically, it has pointed out that adolescent women are the most affected and that the discomfort generated by wanting to control weight can trigger eating disorders (ED) such as bulimia, anorexia or binge eating disorders.

Stigma and humanization of care

For his part, the vice president of the SEPSM, José Antonio Ramos Quiroga, has addressed the need to offer humanized care in psychiatry and end the stigma around psychopharmacological treatment and neuromodulation techniques.

To end the stigma, the decalogue emphasizes the importance of informing the population clearly and rigorously, while in the case of humanizationRamos Quiroga has pointed out that it should not focus only on architectural aspects or improving the conditions of the hospital rooms, but also on having the necessary resources.

To finish, psychiatrists have highlighted the importance of innovation in psychiatryan aspect that the decalogue establishes as a “strategic priority” to move towards “increasingly precise, personalized and evidence-based” care. Specifically, they have pointed to the research being carried out in the development of new pharmacological strategies and the consolidation of other biological therapies.

Among the immediate challenges of psychiatry, they have highlighted the need to improve the measurement of health outcomes, ensure the territorial equity in access to innovation and accelerate the transfer of scientific knowledge to clinical practice.