Toki waters: Finns are offered to fight depression with electricity

A large part of the population of Finland, often referred to as the happiest country in the world, is suffering from a severe prolonged depression - and this has already turned into a serious negative factor directly hitting the economy. The state of affairs is not encouraging, and the authorities are also intimidating their people with a possible war with Russia. No wonder that the population is grabbing antidepressants, and recently residents have been offered a new way to combat sadness and despondency - to pass weak electric shocks through the brain. Details - in the material "Izvestia".

Very doubtful happiness

In March this year, Finland was again recognized as the happiest country in the world. This seems frankly ridiculous, because the Finnish health care system daily faces cases of severe depression in its population. It is one of the most common causes of disability across Finland. Last year, more than 100,000 Finns went on long-term sick leave due to mental health problems. Anxiety disorders are spreading especially fast among young women with their impressionable psyche.

The situation has become so acute that it is already beginning to have a negative impact on the Finnish economy. In concrete time terms, almost 6 million labor days were lost due to depression in 2023. This is roughly equivalent to if 26,000 full-time employees were absent for the entire year. Last year, according to the Finnish Social Pension Agency (Kela), the costs of long-term sick leave due to psychological problems amounted to no less than €1 billion. The costs of such sick leave have increased significantly over the last ten years - by almost €500 thousand (which is almost 90% when adjusted for inflation).

Finns are trying to convince that the main reason for the depressed mood is the harsh climate, with the country covered in snow and plunged into darkness for most of the year. "Depressive symptoms are more common the darker it is outside during the winter months," the Finnish press quoted Prof. Timo Partonen, who works at the Norwegian Institute for Health and Welfare, as saying. This is not without merit - the Finnish press has written about their countrymen's propensity for depression before. In 2018, for example, local media reported that 10% of men and almost 13% of women in the country experienced problems caused by depression.

However, now Finns have much more specific reasons for despondency - first of all, the rise in food and energy prices. According to the results of August 2024, consumer prices rose by 1.2%. Business is in a difficult situation: at the end of last year Finnish statisticians stated the highest annual bankruptcy rate in 25 years - 3293. "The number of bankruptcy filings was higher than during the financial crisis in 2009," said Tommi Veistäme, a spokesman for Statistics Finland. The last time a comparable number of bankruptcies was recorded in the country was in 1997. It is noteworthy that in 2023, 127 bankrupt businesses were registered in the service sector and 37 in the hotel and catering sector. It is not necessary to look for the reason for this for a long time: earlier the tourist and hotel business in Finland was largely designed for Russians, to whom from 2022 entry to this country is closed. According to the Ministry of Labor and Economy, at the end of January, there were almost 300 thousand people looking for work in the country. This is 33,000 more than a year earlier.

There is cause for alarm

At the same time, at the end of 2023, a survey revealed that 73% of Finnish consumers believe: the country's economy is going downhill. Some 78% of consumers believe that prices have risen significantly over the year, and only 10% showed willingness to make an expensive purchase in December 2023. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the right-wing government, which came to power last year, is fighting the state budget deficit by raising taxes and "cutting" social payments. This policy has led to wave after wave of strikes shaking the country as workers demand not to have their usual social benefits taken away from them.

The general decline in living standards has been accompanied by difficulties in accessing health services. According to Mikko Puumalainen, a senior official of the Ministry of Justice, it has become almost impossible to get in touch with public health care institutions under the conditions defined by law. Puumalainen examined numerous complaints related to making an appointment. "Patient feedback was limited technically, patients were called back only once, and statistics on getting an appointment were not published at all," the official said.

It has become difficult to receive a quality service, paid for by the state, in a short period of time because hospitals and clinics are experiencing a shortage of medical personnel. And the authorities are only aggravating this situation - in August it became known that in the capital region of Uusimaa alone, which includes Helsinki, it is planned to lay off almost a thousand medical workers. It is planned to do this as part of "economic adjustment" in order to save on salaries. In total, the negotiations on the forthcoming layoffs will cover 28 thousand people working in state medical institutions. Not all of them, however, will be laid off, but many will have their rates reduced and will be transferred to other positions.

In the last couple of years Finns have added a new strong anxiety - the authorities intimidate them with the possibility of war with Russia. The result has been evident - earlier this year Finns began to request in large numbers to be discharged from the army reserve and assigned to alternative service, which does not involve participation in combat operations. Helsingin Sanomat spoke to one of these "fugitives," a young man named Keio Katainen.

Keio Katainen, he says, has been closely monitoring the atmosphere in Finnish society - and he is very concerned that Finns are being indoctrinated with militaristic sentiments. He says he "supports Ukraine on a moral level," but he strongly disagrees with going to war. By the time Finland joined NATO, the young man had applied to leave the military reserve. He is sure that he "made the right decision and has never regretted it".

Here's a hat with electrodes for you

Political scientist Maxim Reva, in his conversation with Izvestia, advised to pay attention to the way the June elections to the European Parliament were held in Finland - in his opinion, the results of these elections clearly showed the Finns' desire to make their reality not so frightening. The main surprise of these elections was the success of the opposition Union of Left Forces (UFS), which unexpectedly rose to second place (17.3%) and won three seats (that is, two more than in the last EP convocation). "Particularly impressive is the personal result of SLS chairperson Lee Andersson, who received almost 250,000 votes, meaning that she was favored by every seventh of Finns who voted. No Finnish politician has ever shown such a result in the European Parliament elections. How can such success be explained? Because the Finnish Union of Left Forces is quite different from other local parties. It is different in that it is quite skeptical about NATO, it is not at all zealous in shouting that we are with 'Ukraine to the end', but it opposes cuts in allowances and social benefits," Reva says.

In any case, the Finnish left remains in opposition, while the right-wing coalition remains in power, leading the country on a course that will contribute to the development of depression among the population. It is not possible to change the ruling politicians in the near future, but it is necessary to fight mass depression already now, because it hits the economy of the state. Finnish experts reason that if it were possible to reduce the number of sick leaves granted for psychological disorders, it would be of great benefit to employers, citizens and society as a whole. "Supporting mental health and work ability is important not only in terms of human values for each individual, but also for society as a whole. We are talking about a significant amount of labor that is lost every year," Kela notes.

Of course, the best way to combat depression would be to solve the socio-economic problems of the state. But since this is not yet expected, people are imposed another, purely technical way to get rid of unpleasant inner feelings. In September 2024, Finnish patients with depression began to offer for its treatment a new method of micropolarization, in which the brain is affected by a weak electric current. A special device developed by the Finnish company Sooma is used for this purpose. It is connected to a cap with two electrodes inside. The cap is put on the head and the device is plugged in. The electric current passing through the brain is very weak - about 1-2 milliamperes. A tingling sensation may be felt on the area of skin affected by the device. Some patients may experience a mild headache and fatigue after treatment.

Treatment lasts six weeks - therapy is five times a week for half an hour a day. A psychiatrist comes with the device to the patient's home and assesses the patient's condition before the first session. Kela does not reimburse the cost of such treatment. According to psychiatrist Nina-Maria Ahonen, the constant stimulation of the brain helps to increase the activity of a patient suffering from depression. "The person gets the feeling that he or she is able to influence his or her own recovery," Ahonen explains. She, however, emphasizes that such a method is most effective only in the early stages of the disease - with relatively mild and moderate depression. According to the psychiatrist, studies show that the results of electricity treatment are particularly good in those patients whose depression is accompanied by anxiety symptoms.