A new €500,000 advertising campaign aims to reduce Ireland's high suicide rate by tackling the stigma surrounding mental health problems.
Nationwide advertisements, which began to air last night ahead of World Mental Health Day today, urge people to talk about their difficulties to friends, family or doctors.
The campaign, to be broadcast on TV, radio, the internet and on posters in bus shelters, follows a national survey which found that 62 per cent of people would not want other people to know if they had a mental health problem like anxiety or depression.
About one million Irish people are estimated to suffer from problems like suicidal thoughts or hopelessness, says an HSE report released yesterday. Each year, approximately 11,000 will deliberately harm themselves, and 500 will kill themselves.
But despite the widespread problem, people are much more secretive about their mental health than about their physical health, say experts, even though both have the same remedy: medical care and a change of lifestyle.
The stigma about mental health is so great that very few people are willing to seek help or even admit they have a problem, says the HSE.
"It's so important to keep communication channels open between parents and children," said Geoff Day, the head of the HSE's National Office for Suicide Prevention.
"People might realise their friend or relative might have difficulty and there is always the chance they can put them in touch with a professional," said Mr Day.
Health experts say mental health should be viewed in the same way as physical health: just as people train in the gym to stay physically fit, people should set aside time to work on their mental health.
They can talk about their problems, get more exercise, reduce their drug or alcohol intake, and seek professional help.
While the World Health Organisation says that 25 per cent of the population will suffer from mental health problems at some point in their life, just 11 per cent of Irish people admit that they have experienced any difficulties, according to a new mental health research report.
The HSE suspects that the report's 1,000 subjects might have been reluctant to admit problems in face-to-face interviews.
The report found that most people were aware of positive impacts on their mental health, such as having a supportive family, a good diet, physical health, having good friends, and having time to relax.
The report, Mental Health in Ireland: Awareness and Attitudes, found that 23 per cent of Irish people had cared for, or were relatives of, someone who has had mental health problems.