Activities of João PIMENTA LOPES related to 2023/2074(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Mental health (short presentation)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on mental health
Amendments (38)
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas socio-economic characteristiconditions are among the most significant factors influencing an individual’s mental health status;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas according to the WHO report on the social determinants of mental health, a person’s mental health and many common mental disorders are shaped by social, economic and physical environments;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas according to the WHO report on the social determinants of mental health, the risk factors for many common mental disorders are heavily associated with social inequalities, whereby the greater the inequality the higher the inequality in risk;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas according to the Headway 2023–Mental Health Index, suicide is the sixth leading cause of death among the population as a whole in the EU and UK, and the fourth leading cause of death among young people;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas a number of studies suggest that a large proportion of students are showing signs of psychological problems, in addition to diminished social skills and emotional capacities; whereas this needs to be addressed in the context of a lack of resources in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas grinding poverty, social inequality and discrimination are putting people in a vulnerable position and whereas social and institutional factors such as education, social assistance and employment have an enormous bearing on the opportunities available to people to enable them to carve out their own direction in life;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and women who are the victim of a traumatic episode, such as a miscarriage or abuse by their partner, are more susceptible to the psychological impacts of social, economic and political crises;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C g (new)
Recital C g (new)
Cg. whereas household chores and childcare responsibilities have a significant impact on women’s mental health, as illustrated by the Headway 2023–Mental Health Index, which reports that 44% of women with children under 12 struggle with responsibilities in the household, compared with just 20% of men;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C h (new)
Recital C h (new)
Ch. whereas the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work highlights the importance of how work is organised and of interpersonal relationships, citing factors such as work-related stress, burnout, violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace, fatigue, psychological burdens, presenteeism (i.e. being ‘connected’ for more hours than necessary) and emotional demands (i.e. distance from one’s colleagues and managing one’s emotions in particular roles), for helping workers to maintain their mental well-being and avoid disruptive situations at work;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C i (new)
Recital C i (new)
Ci. whereas it should be acknowledged that psychologists have an important role to play in education, by attending to the general mental health of the school or facility, promoting effective health education, improving learning outcomes, keeping children safe, preventing school drop-outs and ill-discipline, managing conflicts between peers, between students and their teachers and between other members of staff, promoting skills across a variety of disciplines, helping students make decisions about their careers, integrating and improving the learning outcomes of students with special needs and students from ethnic minorities, promoting gender equality, bringing guardians closer to school, improving teachers’ mental health, and training both teaching and non-teaching staff;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C j (new)
Recital C j (new)
Cj. whereas although people may be able to adapt to their circumstances, it is not easy to live with uncertainty and the manifold limitations imposed in situations beyond one’s control;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Considers that, in order to reduce inequalities, the ensuing risk of developing mental disorders and the number of mental health issues in general, it is essential to take steps to improve people’s day-to-day living standards by adopting an approach that encompasses the entire cycle of life – from before birth through to early childhood, later childhood and adolescence, to working age, starting a family and into old age – and thus recognises the various factors that may have a bearing on mental health at different stages of life;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the importance of social policies that tackle social exclusion, poverty, homelessness, substance-related disorders and the causes thereof, unemployment and, economic vulnerabilities, discrimination, insecurity and the deregulation of work in order to prevent mental health conditions and address their root causes; underlines the need to provide better instruments to help people to cope with problems;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Considers that workers who find themselves in stressful situations at work, having to acquire multiple skills and under constant pressure to increase production, in addition pay cuts and low wages, uncertainty and a lack of security surrounding their job, long and irregular working days and hours, and concerns about being made redundant and violence or harassment in the workplace, are prone to exhaustion and at greater risk of developing mental health disorders; takes the view that all of these issues can lead to adversity in the workplace and – ultimately – redundancy, giving rise to physical and mental illness and even psychiatric disorders; stresses the importance of safeguarding labour rights, tackling unemployment and job insecurity, and ensuring a balance between people’s professional, family and personal lives;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Warns that this situation is particularly serious for health professionals and carers, who play a vital role in providing care to people that need assistance and hence rely on specialised occupational healthcare;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Stresses that the impact of teleworking, namely more isolation, excessive amounts of screen time (processed as stress by the human brain), the risk of longer working hours and the need to be constantly available, without a proper separation of one’s working and family life, should be looked into and considered when it comes to employment- related decisions;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3d. Emphasises that in the workplace, in the provision of support for children of school age, in the special care accorded to the oldest in society, and in our social relations, the cumulative effects of successive economic, social, health and environmental crises and the decline in living standards and economic status continue to be felt, with the current period proving a particularly challenging and difficult one; highlights the need to fight social inequalities, injustice, discrimination and poverty, while safeguarding social and labour rights and ensuring that people can avail themselves of culture and a healthy environment;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. Stresses the importance of combating gender inequalities and violence against women; highlights the importance of ensuring reproductive and sexual rights, maternity and paternity rights, employment with rights and good-quality public services in order to combat and prevent mental health conditions among this vulnerable societal group;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3f. Warns that widespread population ageing across the Member States risks bringing about a deterioration in mental health and well-being in old age as a result of falling living standards, namely insufficient pensions and retirement savings, the loss of social support from friends and family members, the onset of physical or neuro-psychiatric conditions such as dementia, and a shortage of public services for older people, which are absolutely essential;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 g (new)
Paragraph 3 g (new)
3g. Warns that suicide rates are higher among older people; deems it essential, therefore, to promote the active participation of older people in community life and to ensure that all older people have what they need to be able to take part, free of charge, as well as providing public facilities for this at-risk group, which means investing in a network of public care homes, strengthening and extending the provision of long-term care and beefing up community services, which must be suitably well-staffed with specialist mental health professionals;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Amendment 298 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Calls on the Member States to develop and encourage cooperation between national public health services and private social solidarity associations in the field of mental health, with a view to providing services, promoting the participation of families, upholding the rights of people with mental health conditions and combating the stigma they face;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers that free and good-quality universal public health coverage is a pillar of the European health unionright and that mental health services are an integral, essential and structural part of Member States’ national health systems;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Deems it essential to ramp up investment in public health services, including providing the requisite means and resources – both in terms of staffing and facilities – to boost financial support for mental health in order to promote the systematic, uniform coverage of mental health services in hospitals and of primary healthcare across the EU; stresses that such coverage should be tailored to the real needs of existing services and enable new departments to be set up, as envisaged by existing legislation, with a view to rectifying the serious shortcomings in the sector;
Amendment 333 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Highlights the need to ensure that public health services are staffed with sufficient mental health professionals, doctors, nurses, psychologists and other mental health professionals, who should feel that their careers are valued, be employed where they are needed the most, and given the resources and means to meet the needs of the people they serve;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9c. Calls on the Member States, therefore, to equip psychiatric and mental health services with more staff, such as psychiatrists, general practitioners, paediatricians, mental health nurses, psychologists, social workers and rehabilitation professionals, who should be employed where local populations and areas need them the most, thereby remedying apparent staff shortages;
Amendment 340 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 d (new)
Paragraph 9 d (new)
9d. Believes that primary healthcare should play a more prominent role in the treatment of patients with mental health conditions in order to increase visibility among the general public and ensure that patients can better avail themselves of such care; stresses the need, to this end, for primary healthcare to be suitably well- equipped with expert mental health professionals such as psychologists and specialised psychiatric nurses, in particular in the most deprived regions, and to focus on community-led responses;
Amendment 362 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Highlights the need to strengthen community services, in conjunction with hospital services and public primary healthcare, in order to aid prevention, diagnosis and treatment;
Amendment 365 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Emphasises that early intervention among children and adolescents is a key part of mental health prevention strategies, and that steps should be taken to promote coordination between schools and health facilities;
Amendment 367 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Calls on the Member States to promote the recruitment of more psychologists in education (at least one for every 500 students) in order to render pre-, primary and secondary schools suitably well-equipped to cater to the particular needs of their community, and to ensure that these professionals feel valued in their careers, have secure positions and are guaranteed their rights;
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Highlights the essential role of a multidisciplinary health workforteams in public health services and the clinical, financial and organisational benefits of community- based healthcare;
Amendment 391 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Urges the Member States to provide community services, in conjunction with hospital services and primary care, in order to ensure that people get swift and targeted access to the treatment and care that they need;
Amendment 396 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Urges the Member States to promote the empowerment and social integration of persons with mental health conditions and disabilities by providing for personalised rehabilitation in a protected environment, promoting work and other activities, and ensuring that every single person benefits from residential support in accordance with their needs and particular degree of independence;
Amendment 398 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12c. Recognises the need to support specific and vulnerable groups, such as homeless people, which means providing homes tailored to the different needs of those who lack such facilities;
Amendment 429 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the CommissionMember States to promote policies around best practice in social prescribing in the Member States;
Amendment 440 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Urges the Member States to ensure that people on medical leave because of mental health conditions do not face discrimination; urges the Member States to implement national plans that promote the integration of people with mental health conditions into the labour market, in order to reduce inequities and tackle social determinants; calls on the Member States to increase sick pay, including for those with mental health conditions, so as to ensure that workers do not lose income, which causes them distress and may make their condition worse;
Amendment 447 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Highlights the need to provide specific support for education about mental health, alcohol and drug addiction, and combating stigma;
Amendment 519 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Takes the view that the funding available for support and prevention in the field of mental health, in the budgets of both the EU and the Member States, is patently insufficient to address the current problems, shortfalls and needs;