Brexit and mental health: how are you coping?

Simple answer, people are not coping. As with any major

negative event, people are feeling anxious and depressed.

Voting to leave the EU came as a shock for many and has

generated a feeling of insecurity, with several people, especially

the 3 million non UK EU nationals, worrying about the potential

personal, economic, and political consequences of leaving the

union.

Imagine the feeling of not knowing whether you were able to live,

work or study in the UK, or the EU respectively, for the

foreseeable future. People with loved ones… maybe Children

who perhaps never been to their home country since they were

very young. A sense of displacement and uncertainty is only

likely to increase over the coming years of course this will put

pressure that will put on UK and international mental health

services that are already seriously strained.

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According to YouGov, 40% of Brits say that Brexit has had some

impact on their mental health.

More than half of Labour (52%), Lib Dems (52%) and Remain

(56%) voters say Brexit has directly affected their mental

wellbeing.

Only 1 in 3 Tory (31%) and Leave (30%) voters say the same

Remain at (19%) voters are three times as likely as Leave voters

(6%) to say a large impact

One in eight have reported problems with sleep linked to our

protracted extrication from the European Union, and one in five

of us say the whole process has caused high levels of stress.

(https://www.wired.co.uk/article/brexit-news-mental-health)

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Brexit has taken all the attention, the huge investment in it

has led to a lack of attention elsewhere like in mental health

support.

Most people are sick of hearing about Brexit. In fact 83% of

people said they were sick of hearing about it. It takes over

people’s daily lives so much that they forget about their normal

lives and the importance of things such as the 5 steps to mental

wellbeing essential for a healthy lifestyle: Connect, be active,

keep learning, give to others and be mindful.

I believe we must keep our focus on the key issues like mental

health and the environment.

Our young people in our country are in serious danger of

inheriting a planet in freefall with Britain crashing out of the EU

combined with the looming dark force of serious climate

disturbance hanging over their futures.

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The government have neglected mental health provision this

climate emergency by focusing time, energy, and money on

Brexit, risking the future of our planet and the health of young

people in the interests of their own financial gain and just to solve

an internal spat in the Conservative party.

Chronic underfunding by the government has led to mental

health research receiving 25 times less funding, per person

affected, than physical conditions such as cancer. This equates

to £9 spent on research per person affected by mental illness –

while £228 is spent on research per person affected by cancer.

Although awareness of mental health is increasing, money being

ploughed into research has remained flat over the last 10 years

in real terms. EU is left to fill the gap.

The EU is the largest single funder of mental health research in

Europe and one of the 10 largest funders globally.

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The lack of understanding of the biological causes of mental

health disorders is one of the reasons behind the dramatic

slowdown in the development of new drugs to treat

neuropsychiatric disorders, compared to physical illness, and

explains why it has been so important to join efforts at EU level

to address the challenges in mental health research.

Whether we leave the EU or not, mental health clinicians and

researchers in the UK need to maintain the ability to conduct joint

collaborative research with leading EU counterparts, as well as

ensuring that NHS mental health patients continue to have the

opportunity to participate in EU-wide clinical studies on new

treatments.

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Coming back to my own work on the Employment and Social

Affairs Committee. This week there was a hearing for the new

Commissioner for Jobs. He spoke about a number of issues that

cause barriers to workers seeking employment and highlighted

how the EU needs to explore carefully the policy tools to address

key risks such as cancer, stress and mental health.

He promised to work together with the social partners and the

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in order to

develop a genuine prevention culture among employers and

workers regarding work-related stress and factors impeding on

the mental health of workers. He also highlighted that combatting

mental health issues facing workers will be an issue to work on

with a number of his Commission colleagues, in particular with

the new Commissioner for Health.

Lack of access to drugs after Brexit, will cause problems for

people with mental health problems in UK especially if Boris

ties us to a new deal.

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We’re already seeing the impact of this worry Doctors actively

advising patients to stockpile medicine in the case of a no deal

and offering advanced prescriptions.

If something as common as citalopram, a low dosage treatment,

commonly prescribed for people with anxiety is under threat, it

shows just the tip of the iceberg in what impact Brexit has in

relation to treatment on mental health.

Stress not just effecting people but also businesses and

their employees (especially SME’s).

Visit to Forge Europa, no help from gov in planning for Brexit.

Creates job insecurity for employers and their employees and

leads to personal mental health issues etc.

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Here in European Parliament people have been signed off sick

because of stress caused by Brexit, not healthy etc.

With significant progress accomplished in recent years to

bring physical and mental health on an equal footing, it is

imperative to ensure that Brexit will not slow down efforts

towards closing the parity of esteem gap.