Irish rate themselves as among ‘happiest in EU’

PSYCHOLOGICALLY, the Irish are a healthy nation, with depression or anxiety rarely affecting their work or social life.

When they feel down or anxious they prefer to see their GP than confide in family or friends. Last year, of those that sought help, 90% went first to their family doctor.

They are among the most tolerant race toward others with psychological problems with just a tiny fraction believing the mentally ill have just themselves to blame or that they will never recover.

But for those who suffered mental stress in the last 12 months, a third found it difficult to get the information and help they needed.

The findings are part of a major survey on mental health in Europe released by the European Commission yesterday that found the vast majority of people feel healthy and happy.

The Irish rate themselves among the happiest in the EU, with 82% saying they felt happy all or most of the time in the past year. The average was just 65%.

Despite this they come much lower down the scale when it comes to feeling calm and peaceful, being full of life or having lots of energy. In these three categories Irish people slip down below all the other northern countries that appear to experience the most joie-de-vivre in Europe.

More than half admitted to feeling tired, worn out or tense at least occasionally while a third said occasionally emotional problems interfered with their work.

But 5% said they lost days at work in the previous four weeks because of depression, which was considerably more than the Dutch.

Of those questioned 14% had sought professional help from their GP over the previous 12 months, which was slightly higher than the EU average. Just 1% had to spend time in hospital, 3% had psychotherapy while 6% were on medication.

Depression and mental ill health resulted in 58,000 suicides in Europe last year. Over 18 million people suffer from major depression while the same number said they had problems with phobias in the past year.

European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou, said the social and economic consequences of mental illness needs to be better recognised.