The MEP Interest Group on Integrative Medicine and Health hosted the event 'Integrative Mental Health –  the way forward' in the European Parliament on Tuesday 28 March 2023.

The role of TCIM – Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine

Nearly 125 million people in the WHO European region - equivalent to 13% of its population - were already living with mental illness before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the pandemic has worsened the situation by increasing the rates of already-common conditions such as depression and anxiety by more than 25%. Mental health problems are becoming more and more serious and costly, whether they result from various factors, such as rising economic and social inequities, rapid societal, political, and environmental shifts or the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To address these challenges, Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) can play an important role in mitigating the effects of these developments on the human psyche. Among the array of available TCIM techniques, popular practices such as mindfulness or yoga training, and methods such as acupuncture, should be accessible to more people. By using these techniques, Europeans can equip themselves with enjoyable and effective tools for preventing ill mental health, improving their daily management of mental illness, and building up mental and physical resilience. Mental health is critically important to everyone, everywhere, and it is essential to recognize that there is no health without mental health, as WHO's Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus rightly argues.

Speakers

MEP Interest Group Co-chair MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finland) explained that the Integrative Mental Health discussion is only starting, and that the Interest Group meeting is part of the preparations for developing an EU Mental Health Strategy.

She highlighted that COVID-19 had further amplified the challenges for mental wellbeing in Europe; depression rather than physical illness is now a leading cause for early retirement, and also leads to high suicide rates, especially among young people. Treatment, however, remains difficult: the effectiveness of antidepressants is poor, with less than a third of patients deriving the desired outcomes, commonly accompanied by substantial side effects. Moreover, mental health patients are often prescribed three different drugs for extended periods of time.

"No health without mental health"

"Defining a comprehensive approach to mental health"

Véronique Wasbauer, Principal Adviser for non-communicable diseases, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety 

“Towards mental healthcare without labels and of relevance to users”

Jim van Os MD PhD, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Public Health at Utrecht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and Visiting Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at King’s College, Institute of Psychiatry, London. Read more.

“Integrative psychiatry; the best of both worlds”

Rogier Hoenders MD PhD, integrative psychiatrist, Head of Research and Clinical Affairs of the Centre for Integrative Psychiatry (CIP) of Lentis in Groningen, the Netherlands. Read more.

“Mind-body medicine for physical and mental health” (Joint presentation with Anna Paul)

Gustav Dobos MD PhD, Professor of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Head of the Department for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Read more.

Anna Paul, PhD (medical sciences/health sciences), head of the Department of Mind Body Medicine (MBM) in the Clinic for Naturopathy and Integrative Medicine section of Integrative Oncology and within the project of Integrative Psychosomatics at KEM / Evang. Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Germany. Read more.