Mental health crisis: Numbers break all boundaries!

Mental health crisis: Numbers break all boundaries!

The increase in cases of illness in Germany is worrying. According to information from the Leipzig Book Fair, there were already as many sick reports in the first half of 2024 as in the whole of 2023. This data was determined by the AOK Federal Association on the basis of sickness reports and it is expected that the final evaluation for 2024 could exceed the previous year's record level.

A major factor in increasing absenteeism is mental illness. These have almost doubled in the last 10 years, which corresponds to an increase of almost 47 percent. Employees with mental illnesses are on sick leave for at least 28 days on average. According to the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN), 27.8 percent of adults in Germany are affected by mental illnesses every year. This corresponds to around 17.8 million people, of whom only 18.9 percent contact a therapist per year.

Offers to strengthen mental health

The Beisheim Foundation is actively committed to strengthening the resilience of adults, children and young people. As part of its activities, the Foundation offers “Mental Health First Aid” courses, which provide support for people with mental health problems. The Beisheim Foundation also works with the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim to expand the networks for Mental Health First Aid.

The Beisheim Foundation will offer a “Mental Gas Station” at the upcoming Leipzig Book Fair. Here visitors, especially children and young people, can take part in mini-workshops and strengthen their mental health. In addition, an information portal entitled “I am everything”, which was created in cooperation with the child and adolescent psychiatry department at the LMU Clinic in Munich, will provide information about depression and mental health. An extension of this portal, “I am everything@school”, is aimed specifically at teachers and adapts to the school context.

A separate report from the AOK confirms that mental illnesses are one of the main causes of sick leave. The number of AU days due to mental illnesses has increased by almost 47 percent in the last ten years. The long downtime is particularly noticeable: While the average duration of an illness due to a respiratory disease in 2023 was 6.1 days, the average duration due to mental illnesses was 28.1 days.

The rise in mental illness and associated absenteeism demonstrates a growing need for comprehensive strategies to support mental health, both in work and school contexts. This highlights the importance of the Beisheim Foundation and other organizations' initiatives to promote mental health awareness.

For further details about the current absences and their causes, the AOK report can be viewed [here](https://www.aok.de/pp/gg/daten-und-analyse/ Fehlzeiten-report/), while the Beisheim Foundation's offers at the Leipzig Book Fair here can be explained in more detail.