2024-03-02 06:07:34
According to a new survey, girls and women up to the age of 29 in Vienna are particularly affected by exhaustion, fears and uncontrolled worries. The symptoms are significantly more pronounced in females than in boys and men in the same age group, as emerged from a representative survey commissioned by the Psychosocial Services in Vienna (PSD-Vienna) on Saturday.
In general, the results of the survey conducted in 2023 show that challenges to mental health remain high: one in five people surveyed reported a continuous deterioration in their condition over the past two years. 69 percent see an impairment of their everyday routine due to exhaustion (plus eight percentage points compared to 2022), more than a quarter of them every day or at least more than half of the days.
The problem with fears also increased once more last year compared to 2022. 65 percent said they had to deal with it, especially young people and women. Inflation represents a heavy burden for 59 percent of all respondents – the focus is primarily on rising food, energy and housing costs. Global developments such as the war in Ukraine also put a lot or some stress on 30 percent of Viennese people.
But the burden is not the same for everyone – the economic starting situation makes a big difference, the PSD Vienna concluded. In addition: “Those people who were already struggling with challenges before the pandemic are significantly more affected than others. Young people and women are particularly burdened,” said the Coordinator for Psychiatry, Addiction and Drug Issues for the City of Vienna, Ewald Lochner .
Exhaustion and anxiety have increased once more among young people and women in 2023 and have therefore increased in each of the four years surveyed so far since 2020. Women who do care work and those who are under 29 years old and in the lower economic third are particularly affected.
90 percent of all young women in the lower economic third suffer from exhaustion and anxiety, and 80 percent from uncontrolled worries. “We are also seeing an increase in calls to the worry hotline, especially from women. Even before the pandemic, mental illnesses were the most common cause of illness among young women. With the crises of the past few years, this trend has increased further,” said the head of psychosocial services Information, Ardjana Gashi.
The problem in this context is that there are still many taboos surrounding psychological stress. “At least 28 percent of the people who wanted to seek help did not do so because of a feeling of shame,” says Gashi. Early help for psychological problems is particularly important and effective.
During the survey, 13 percent said they had taken sleeping pills or sedatives every day or on more than half of the days in the past four weeks. Just as many people said they took medication for fatigue and depression. Here, too, the numbers are higher for young men and women: 33 percent of those up to 29 years old took sleeping pills or sedatives at least on some days, and 31 percent took medication for depression and fatigue.
“In addition to the high number of medications taken, the comparatively low number of medications supervised by a doctor is also a cause for concern. While 79 percent of older Viennese report that the medications they take require a prescription, this only applies to 59 percent of those under 29 years of age percent of cases,” said the medical director of Addiction Help Vienna, Regina Walter-Philipp. She warned once morest taking medicines on your own without a doctor’s advice, even if they do not require a prescription.
It is positive to report that the proportion of people whose mental health has improved has also increased to 19 percent. This is particularly true for those women and men whose mental health had already improved in 2022.
The study was commissioned by the PSD-Vienna, the Municipal Department 23 for Economics, Labor and Statistics (MA 23), the MA 57 for Women’s Services and the Vienna Social Fund (FSW). The Foresight Institute (formerly SORA, note) surveyed 1,033 Viennese people aged 16 and over by telephone or online regarding their mental health. 502 people were interviewed for the study in 2022. The survey has been conducted annually since 2020.
(SERVICE – Vienna worry hotline can be reached on 01 4000 53000)
1709365341
#Girls #women #Vienna #exhausted