Biden to announce mental health plan in State of the Union address

US President Joe Biden will announce a national strategy to address “the national mental health crisis ” during his first State of the Union address, which he will deliver to both houses of Congress.

The White House explained in a statement that the plan will be based on strengthening the capacity of the health system, creating support networks and mental health care, and improving the infrastructure of social services.

“Our country is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages. Two out of five adults suffer from anxiety or depression,” the US government stressed.

Biden’s strategy plans to invest 700 million dollars in staff training programs, scholarships, medical loans, and attention to disadvantaged communities.

It also contemplates ways to combat the exhaustion of health personnel, allocate five million dollars in research on mental health treatments, as well as expand telematic care, and improve care in colleges and universities.

The strategy has a special emphasis on the impact of the internet and social networks on the mental health of young people, for which the Government plans to prohibit technology companies from collecting information about minors and from broadcasting advertising aimed at children.

According to the White House, one in three high school students suffered from persistent sadness in 2019, 40 percent more than in 2009, a situation that has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A consortium of American media revealed last October that Facebook knew that its social networks promote hate, misinformation and are harmful to the mental health of young people.

The State of the Union address, which begins this Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. local time, is one of the most important ceremonies in American politics.

According to tradition, the president addresses the two chambers of Congress gathered in the same hemicycle, together with the members of the Supreme Court, to establish what his priorities are for the coming year and ask for the collaboration of the Legislature.