Women born in 1997 received far more mental health support

Yle reported that women born in 1997 have received significantly more mental health-related benefits and rehabilitation psychotherapy than men. The difference was especially large in rehabilitation psychotherapy: 15.9 percent of women had received it, compared with 3.6 percent of men.

Miika Vuori, Kela’s head of research, said it was possible that the service system does not reach young men as effectively.

Kela’s registry data show that boys are directed to rehabilitation services particularly often between the ages of six and 10. Boys of primary school age also use ADHD medication clearly more frequently than girls, according to Kela’s data.

“According to studies, psychological symptoms become more common among girls and young women only during adolescence. Rehabilitation psychotherapy is available only from the age of 16, so the system reaches young women better,” Vuori said.

Vuori said socioeconomic status was also linked to the use of services. People in a more difficult financial situation may have fewer opportunities to seek services such as rehabilitation psychotherapy.

ADHD diagnoses rising among both girls and boys

ADHD diagnoses and the use of ADHD medication have also increased among young girls over the past five years.

“If we go back 10 years, ADHD was hardly recognised among girls born in 1997. This shows that practices for seeking treatment and identifying the need for services are changing,” Vuori said.

Visits by young people to mental health services in public healthcare have increased significantly.

Vuori said mental health problems and neurodevelopmental disorders are common, particularly in childhood and adolescence, and affect education and working capacity.

Kela’s study is the first to show how many people in a birth cohort born in Finland have received mental health-related benefits or rehabilitation psychotherapy during adolescence and early adulthood. The study did not examine how recipients of vocational rehabilitation or intensive medical rehabilitation were divided between the sexes.

The reasons for the gender differences are not yet known.

“Differences this large between the sexes inevitably raise the question of whether something in our service system or healthcare is contributing to them. Kela’s future studies will investigate this,” Vuori said.