By Ronan Browne

Copyright yle

Is Finland facing a mental health crisis?

That’s the question Helsingin Sanomat puts to its readers in this article — noting that psychiatric wards across the country are “bursting at the seams”.

Jesper Ekelund, head of psychiatry at HUS, tells the newspaper that difficult situations arise every week, with patients often shuttled between hospitals, or even between hospital districts.

“The situation is sometimes very critical. For patients coming to the emergency department who absolutely need care, it is often very difficult to find places,” Ekelund says.

The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the number of psychiatric hospital beds fell by 40 percent in Finland between 2015 and 2021, according to public health authority THL. This leads to concerns that even the people who do get help may be receiving inadequate treatment.

HS cites the example of the recent death by suicide of MP Eemeli Peltonen (SDP), whose spouse Sofia Nevalainen said that Peltonen actively sought help but did not receive enough.

Ekelund tells HS that he cannot comment on individual cases, but it is extremely difficult — if not practically impossible — to predict if a person who reports feeling down or depressed or even having suicidal thoughts will end up taking their own life.

“We cannot admit everyone with suicidal thoughts to inpatient care until they no longer have those thoughts,” he says.

For this week’s All Points North podcast, we want to hear from foreigners living in Finland who have considered, sought or received help with mental health issues.

“Put on your shopping pants”

In its most-read article of Wednesday morning, tabloid Iltalehti encourages its readers to put on their “shopping pants and join the spending party” in order to stimulate the Finnish economy back into growth.

Finland’s Finance Ministry said on Monday that cautious consumers are channelling their additional income into savings rather than consumption, and this is delaying the economy’s recovery from recession.

Emilia Gråsten, an economist at Pellervo Economic Research (PTT), tells IL that she understands why consumers in Finland are nervous, but adds that consumer behaviour has a big impact on economic growth.

“Private consumption is very important for the development of GDP. What consumers do really matters,” GrÃ¥sten says.

She cites the housing market as an example, saying that potential homebuyers may not even fully realise how favourable the market conditions currently are.

“Apartment prices have come down so much that, in fact, relative to real incomes, flats are currently cheaper than they have been in a long time. We’re probably talking about decades,” she says.

However, GrÃ¥sten describes the current stalemate as a type of “vicious circle” of uncertainty and caution, and things won’t improve until the cycle is broken.

“If at some point households start to see the future in a better light, there could be a really big surge in spending,” she concludes.

Yle News’ weekly podcast All Points North asks if learning Finnish is a worthwhile endeavour. You can listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Security insights from Honolulu

Ilta-Sanomat meanwhile reports that a trip by Finns Party MP Tomi Immonen to Hawaii at the end of August has raised eyebrows in Parliament.

Immonen’s trip cost Parliament — and therefore the Finnish taxpayer — about 5,645 euros, IS writes, but at least this is an improvement on the 10,000 euros and more the sojourn would have cost if the MP had flown business class to Honolulu, as he originally wanted.

The newspaper therefore asks the Finns Party politician if it was entirely necessary to fly 11,000 kilometres in the pursuit of security policy insights.

“Yes, it was, absolutely,” Immonen replied. “I would guess that no other Finn has received the same on-site briefing from the Indo-Pacific Fleet Commander, some of which is classified and unfortunately I cannot disclose.”

He also told the paper that he wanted to fly business class so that he would have time to recover from the trip before the start of Parliament’s autumn session, which began just a few hours after he returned.

This is not the first time Immonen’s travels have caused controversy. He was removed from a Finnair flight to Bangkok in January for being intoxicated and arguing with cabin crew.

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