Mental Healthcare Differences Between the United States, Costa Rica, and Sweden

Authors

Michaela Diehm, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

4-8-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Diehm, M. (2024). Mental Healthcare Differences Between the United States, Costa Rica, and Sweden. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Comments

Copyright Michaela Diehm 2024.

Abstract

Countries such as the United States, Costa Rica, and Sweden differ in the ways that they approach treatment of mental health disorders, which is due to the structure of their healthcare as well as the culture, affordability, accessibility, and type of treatment that is available to the people of that country. A literature review did not reveal a comparison of the three countries related to the topic of mental healthcare, nor use of the three selected countries to review their structures to determine the best approach to combating mental disorders before. Costa Rica and Sweden are both countries with universal healthcare and similar finances surrounding public and private health insurance, but culture and mental health professional numbers set their similar structures apart. The comparison concluded that Costa Rica had the highest numbers of mental health professionals per people in their population. Costa Rica has not published numbers of the prescription medications given to patients, but Sweden had higher rates of prescriptions per population, 139%, compared to the U.S., 67.4%. Cultural differences were vastly similar in the eye of stigmatization, as there is stigma surrounding mental healthcare in all three countries. Treatment administration proved to also be close to equivalence. Psychotherapies, such as CBT, and medications including SSRI’s and other antidepressants, are commonly utilized in the U.S., Costa Rica, and Sweden. The United States has a higher number of diagnosis and suicide rates than both other countries. Sweden had rates in between both countries. Costa Rica had the lower suicide rate percentages and diagnosis of mental health illnesses out of the three countries studied, leading to the conclusion of the country with the best combination of mental healthcare structure, laws, and culture surrounding and treating mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.