In the Czech Republic, which has a population of 10 million, more than 400,000 people sought advice from psychiatrists last year, according to the Institute for Statistics and Medical Information. This is almost twice as many as ten years ago.
According to experts, more and more people in the Czech Republic are suffering from mental disorders resulting from new lifestyles, but also more and more people - overcoming false shame - are seeking the help of specialist doctors.
"Patients with mental problems are regularly increasing," - says head of the Psychiatric Centre in Prague Dagmar Seifertova. According to her, the number of people suffering from depression, phobias and anxiety attacks is growing in particular. The number of drug addicts and above all patients suffering from eating disorders is also increasing.
Jirzi Krombholz, a psychiatrist at the Sanima centre in Prague, adds that a completely new phenomenon is the sharp increase in the number of patients suffering from depression caused by lack of work. There has even been a recently popular term among Czech doctors: "chronic unemployment syndrome". "This disorder is suffered by people who have been out of work for a long time. Instead of looking for new employment opportunities and exposing themselves to the stress of possible failure, they give up some of their habits and needs so that the social assistance paid to them is enough to live on. As a result, they suffer from depression and neurotic disorders because - deep down - they are not satisfied with their lifestyle".