Country Correspondent: Paul Dourgnon
The National Health Insurance Fund is conducting local pilot projects for patients suffering from moderately severe mental health disorders. The program aims to curb the widespread use of antidepressants by allowing free access to psychologists after a primary care referral. Many experts consider mental health research to be underfunded in France. Although spending on mental health disorders exceeds spending on cancer (EUR 19 billion vs. EUR 14 billion), research spending on mental health represents only 4 percent of public health research expenditures — four times less than is spent cancer research. Each year, 7 million patients are treated for mental health disorders in the French health care system.
