Mental health in Europe: a gender perspective

This report is based on the research work developed by the EU contribution to the World Mental Health Surveys Initiative (EU-WMH) consortium in a project co-financed by the EU Commission Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC 2008-1308) with the goal of estimating the frequency, distribution and consequences of mental disorders in Europe. To achieve it, the consortium first performed comprehensive scientific literature reviews. Subsequently they analyzed in depth data collected in health surveys of the adult general adult population (37,289 individuals) of 10 EU-countries (i.e., Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Spain). The collection and analysis of these surveys was performed through their active participation in the World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys Initiative, lead by the WHO and Harvard University.