"It looks like today, in the 21st century, one hundred and fifty years after Sigmund Freud, it is possible to say, with a straight face, that psychotherapy is not treatment, or claim that in Norway, where this particular physician works, mental healthcare services are provided only by psychiatrists. Robertas Povilaitis shared the exact numbers - Norway has 20 times more psychologists than Lithuania. This ties in wonderfully with the information that Lithuania allocates 20 times more funds to pharmaceuticals than it does to psychotherapy, and as such only 5 percent of the people that need psychological help actually receive it," noted Dovilė Šakalienė, the director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute.

A first in Lithuania

For the first time ever, Lithuania hosted an international conference to strengthen mental health. "Mental Health Policy in Europe and Lithuania 10 Years After the Helsinki Conference: From a Vision of Changes to Results" was initiated by NGOs and organized together with the Ministry of Health, the parliamentary Committee on Health Affairs and the Philosophy Department of Vilnius University. At the conference, participants not only reviewed the development of and problems with the Lithuanian mental healthcare policy, but also took a look at the alternative plan for strengthening mental health that was proposed by NGOs and independent experts.

NGOs are equal partners

The minister of health, Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė, gave the opening address at the conference, stressing that NGOs are seen as equal partners, which is why she was happy that the NGO-prepared plan for alternative mental health strategy and suicide prevention measures was to be discussed at the conference. The minister confirmed that she approves of the majority of the measures proposed by the plan and encouraged discussion to arrive at the best solutions.

Investment needed

The Lithuanian independent experts and non-governmental organizations responsible for preparing the plan calculate that around 25 million euros will be needed over a three-year period to implement the first changes.

By investing in the measures recommended by experts and increasing the scope of new services annually, it will be possible to gradually lessen our dependence on the current service infrastructure, which is based on large, closed-type institutions, excessive medication and which is characterized by an irrational use of resources and human rights violations.

Invitation to come together

The initiators of the alternative plan hope that by discussing this plan it will be possible to bring active citizens, organizations, politicians, mental healthcare service users and their relatives, specialists, the academia and the media together to initiate a much-needed breakthrough.