Assistance to people with mental disorders increases 11% in 2021
Assistance to people with mental and behavioral disorders due to abusive use or dependence on alcohol and other drugs increased by 11 percent in Brazil’s national public health care system(SUS) last year.
According to Brazil’s Health Ministry, SUS reported 400,300 consultations in 2021 due to disorders caused by the consumption of chemical substances. In 2020, 356 thousand medical consultations were registered.
Of the total number of consultations carried out last year, 159,600 were related to abusive use of alcohol. In second place came mental and behavioral disorders caused by the use of cocaine (31,900) and tobacco (18,800).
Opiates, cannabinoids, sedatives, hypnotics, hallucinogens, volatile and stimulating solvents - including caffeine - are also part of the survey, with smaller numbers in the records. Finally, the use of multiple drugs and other psychoactive substances not listed individually account for 151,300 consultations.
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In any of the cases, most users assisted by SUS are male patients. Regarding the age group, the majority is between 25 and 29 years old (303.7 thousand records), followed by the group from 10 to 24 years old (49.4 thousand), and those aged 60 or over (38.4 thousand).
The numbers were released on Sunday (Feb. 20) - National Day to Combat Drugs and Alcoholism - as a form of alert for what the ministry classified as "a global problem".
For the ministry, the increase of the numbers last year may be an indication that after avoiding going to health care facilities throughout 2020, for fear of being infected by the new coronavirus, more people returned to seek medical attention in 2021.
“It is important to mention that these numbers are not enough to portray the problem of chemical dependency in the country, given that we are talking specifically about the number of consultations and not the total number of dependent people,” explains general coordinator of the department for Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs from the ministry Rafael Bernardon.
“Besides that, many people with disorders resulting from the use of these substances do not seek health services due to various factors, such as stigma and lack of information,” he points out.
