Mental health problems among Indonesian teenagers are increasing at an alarming rate according to data released by the National Health Insurance Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) of Indonesia.
According to media reports the agency spent IDR6.77tn ($411.45m), covering 18.9m cases between 2020 and 2024.
BPJS Kesehatan chief Ali Gufron Mukti told media persons that the analysis by the agency reveals that Schizophrenia was the most common and costliest condition, with around 7.5m cases involving an expenditure of IDR3.5tn ($213.4m).
In 2024 around 2.97m mental health cases were referred from primary healthcare facilities to hospitals. In Indonesia every citizen who is a recipient of the universal health coverage has the right to access mental healthcare as well.
A leading Indonesian psychologist Tara de Thouars said at a media workshop recently that about 30% of Indonesian teenagers experience mental health problems and this has been growing by 20% to 30% annually.
A report in https://jakartaglobe.id/ says that the 2022 Indonesia National Adolescent Mental Health Survey (I-NAMHS) revealed that one in three teenagers, or 15.5m Indonesian youths, reported experiencing at least one mental health problem in the previous 12 months. About 5.5% or 2.45m, had a diagnosable mental disorder, with anxiety disorders the most common.
Ms Tara de Thouars said despite the alarming rise in mental illness cases, access to mental health services remains very low in the country. Only 2.6% of adolescents with mental health problems have sought counselling or emotional support services. Overall, just one in fifty adolescents (2%) accessed such services in the same period, and two-thirds of them (66.5%) used the services only once.
She said yet stigma remains a major barrier to treatment. She said people with mental disorders are often labelled as weak, ungrateful, or even seen as a disgrace. This makes them reluctant to seek professional help.