Hospital admissions due to psychic disorders are constantly decreasing in Tuscany, as well as in Italy. In 2011 the hospital admission rate was 3.5/1,000 inh. for both genders, showing a constantly decreasing trend, even if stable in relation to 2010 values (4.6/1,000 inh. in 1997).

In 2011 hospital admissions due to psychiatric diagnoses were mainly represented by bipolar (24.1%), schizophrenic (15,4%), and depressive disorders (12.9%). 77,922 people had recourse to public mental health services at least once in that year (77,668 in 2010). 70% of these were adults (N°=52,884), whose main diagnostic categories were mood disorders (20.2%), anxiety disorders, and somatic symptoms and related disorders (11.8%).

Tuscany is the Italian region with the largest consumption of antidepressants: 58.2 DDD/1,000 residents in 2011 vs a country value of 35.7 DDD/resident pop. in 2010. Regional consumption in the period 2001-2011 showed a positive trend (Osservasalute Report, 2011). On the contrary antipsychotics are used less than in the rest of the country: 2.0 DDD/1,000 resident pop. in 2011 vs 2.8 DDD/resident pop. in Italy in 2010. There may be several hypotheses for this: greater attention by physicians, the use of such drugs less stigmatized and the population’s compliance higher, or even an excessive treatment of depressive symptoms. Data for mental health in Tuscany (SALM) are currently not sufficient to give objective responses to this, and the development of specific surveys seems to be necessary. However, the contradictory picture of mental health in Tuscany seems to suppose that the population seeks recourse more and more from general practitioners regarding its own psychic concerns. The suicide mortality rate supplies interesting information about a population’s well-being: deaths in Tuscany caused by suicide show a slightly increasing trend (st. rate 7.8/1,000 resident pop. in 2009 vs 7.0/1,000 res. pop. in 2008), in particular among people over 70 years of age.