The Danish government is acting to curb rising rates of depression and anxiety among young people by proposing a new legal guarantee: anyone under 18 would have the right to begin treatment within 30 days. If the public system cannot meet that deadline, patients would be offered free care from private providers.
Starting next summer, young people between the ages of 18 and 24 with mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety in Denmark could get a legal right to receive treatment by the regions within 30 days. If the public system cannot meet the time limit, they would be entitled to free treatment from public providers.
“We are very pleased that there is a focus on psychiatry, which has many challenging elements, and it is extremely important that we achieve quality and quantity,” Morten Freil, the CEO of the umbrella association Danish Patients, told Euractiv.
New bill
The new Danish bill is expected to be adopted by the parliament (Folketing) on 19 December. It is considered a significant step forward and forms part of a new ten-year Danish psychiatry plan. The right to rapid treatment for this target group is expected to come into force on 1 July 2026.
Freil underscored the importance of giving young people this opportunity. “This is a group that experiences waiting times of up to several months, and there are also significant geographical differences within Denmark,” he remarked.
According to the new plan, the number of patients in Denmark’s child and adolescent mental health services has doubled over the past 15 years. Approximately 15 per cent of children and young people are diagnosed with a mental disorder before they turn 18.
At the same time, the causes of poor mental health are varied. All the pressure that comes with social media and other factors,” can play a significant role, according to Freil.
He fears that today’s long waiting times risk exacerbating symptoms.
“We can see that there is a growing need and that the psychiatric care capacity has not kept pace, which means that young people with mild symptoms of depression and anxiety are at risk of developing more serious conditions.”
Funding the system
If the bill gets adopted, the Danish coalition government will allocate DKK 93 million (€12 million) in 2026, DKK 124 million (€16 million) in 2027, DKK 93 million (€12 million) in 2028, and DKK 62 million (€8 million) annually from 2029 onwards, to, among other initiatives, increase the number of psychologists, therapists and psychiatrists in the country.
According to the bill, investment should also be made in digital treatment approaches tailored to young people.
Freil sees “a great opportunity in digital solutions which can increase capacity and allow more people to receive treatment.” He also thinks, however, “there is a risk that capacity and quality will suffer.”
For this reason, he believes it is important for Denmark to introduce standards and targets for online psychiatric care, and to follow up on the quality of digital treatment offers.
The bill also transfers responsibility for the treatment of children and adolescents from private psychologists who offer subsidised psychological treatment to the regions.
Simultaneously, psychiatric health care will receive equal status and be organisationally integrated with somatic health care in Denmark in 2027.
[VA, BM]