October 10 is the annual World Mental Health Day and this year’s conference revealed some shocking facts regarding the way mental illnesses are perceived and dealt with. WHO, the World Health Organization, claims that 450 million people worldwide suffer from some sort of mental illness and that only 1 in 4 patients in developing countries receive treatment for their condition.

The fact that mental health ranks very low on the public health agenda is thing doctors worry about, as mental, neurological and substance-use conditions become more and more common.

In order for this issue to be resolved the general conception regarding mental health must be changed and immediate action must be taken. There are already some treatments and, in some cases, even cures for such conditions and with a little more focus from the political sphere, mental problems can be dealt with and, ultimately, stopped from becoming even more widespread.

“Advocacy for global mental health: scaling up services through citizen advocacy and action” was this year’s theme through which methods for accessing useful information are promoted. Also, raising awareness towards these kind of problems was another goal of this year’s World Mental Health Day.

WHO launched a program this month through which strategies for scaling up mental health care cost are identified. Research shows that treatment for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and alcohol abuse could be covered by a developing state by spending 20 cents for every person yearly. This signal is targeted mostly to governments and to the political sphere, in order for better mental health care.