Approximately 16.4% of Bulgaria's population lives with a mental disorder \u2014 around one in six people. The Health Ministry reported the figure on 10 October, World Mental Health Day.<\/p>\n
According to the ministry, mental disorders are the country's second leading cause of years lived with disability. Worldwide, more than one billion people live with a mental disorder, with depression and anxiety among the most common conditions.<\/p>\n
The 2026 campaign's theme is \u201cThe voice of lived experience: authentic voices, real change\u201d. The World Health Organization and Bulgaria's Health Ministry emphasise involving people with lived experience in designing and evaluating policies and services.<\/p>\n
A key theme is the shift from long-term institutional care to accessible services and support in the community. The ministry stresses that deinstitutionalisation means more than closing institutions: it requires quality care centred on individuals and their rights.<\/p>\n
WHO also highlights human rights, the empowerment of people with lived experience and cooperation across sectors. This article provides public health information and does not replace consultation with a health professional.<\/p>\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ministry of Health \u2014 10 October 2026<\/a><\/p>\n World Health Organization \u2014 World Mental Health Day 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Illustrative photograph: Christina @ wocintechchat.com \/ Unsplash. It does not show a specific patient or medical consultation. Cropped to 1200\u00d7675 px by 5000.news.<\/small><\/p>\n Photographer<\/a> \u00b7 Unsplash licence<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Health Ministry says about 16.4% of the population is affected. The 2026 campaign focuses on lived experience and community care.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,18,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulgaria","category-zdrave","category-obshtestvo"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}