Turkish Psychiatry Association (TPD) demands immediate action to provide assistance to those affected by health problems caused by unemployment and poverty. As official unemployment figures rise to 3 million people, preventive mental health services are required for families and social groups faced with hardship, TPD warns.

According to the association, poverty and unemployment could cause depression, suicidal affiliations, alcohol and drug abuse as well as psychiatric disorders such as anxiety. "As economic crisis begins to affect the individual, it progresses as crises on mental and physical levels." 

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) revealed figures concerning November 2008 and around 645 thousand joined the unemployed. Moreover, economist Mustafa Sonmez criticizes the methods of calculation employed by the institute and says that the real figure may reach 6.3 million people. 

TPD's recommendations are as follows:

• Health services should be easily accessible and free for all citizens. New medical units should be established to cope with the problems faced by the unemployed.
• Children in families where parents loose their jobs, encounter problems of under nutrition and vitamin deficiency. They should be closely monitored and supplemented with needed services.
• Workers should be kept exempt from paying contributions for social security, involving public health services.
• On all levels of the education system, educational programmes on mental and psychical disorders should be introduced.
• The scope and the amount of unemployment benefits should be increased.(TK/AGÜ)