World Mental Health Day: WHO wants people with lived experience to have a bigger say

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), today's World Mental Health Day carries the theme "Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change". WHO is calling for people with lived experience of mental illness to be more involved in policy, training and care. According to the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2024, only just over a third of responding countries (37 percent) involve them in training primary health care workers. In 45 percent of countries there is ongoing collaboration with patient and family groups, and in 59 percent mental health legislation was developed in consultation with them.

WHO sees a major backlog in moving away from large institutions. According to the organisation, only about 9 percent of countries have fully shifted care from hospitals and institutions to community-based services, while around 53 percent are in the early stages of that transition. About half (49 percent) of reported admissions to psychiatric hospitals are involuntary, and 23 percent of stays last longer than a year. WHO announced it will publish practical guidance on deinstitutionalisation.

How significant the issue is in Germany as well is shown by the 2026 absenteeism report of the AOK's research institute WIdO, which the institute announced on 8 October. It found that sick days due to mental illness among employees insured with AOK rose from 284 days per 100 members in 2016 to 403 days in 2025 – an increase of almost 42 percent. A case lasted 28.5 days on average, far longer than respiratory illnesses (5.7 days).