Mental illness has fortified itself as a major concern around the world, this is primarily due to the amount of people who suffer from mental illness but go undiagnosed. The undiagnosed end up having to suffer the symptoms of their illness until the day that their condition is recognized and dealt with. This is where Sweden is attempting a new experiment to combat the in between period of suffering symptoms of mental illness, to consulting a mental health professional.
In Sweden’s capital of Stockholm, taxi cabs from November 3rd to roughly the 10th are offering free therapy sessions for their cliental. Now, this isn’t to say that after having a couple of drinks with your friend at a pub, you hop into a taxi only to find yourself face-to-face with a therapist making you talk about your problems. In order to consult with a therapist, you must specify when ordering the taxi whether you would like one with the therapy included.
The Stockholm taxi company has launched this experiment after conducting a short poll with their clients to find that a vast majority feel completely comfortable speaking candidly with cab drivers about concerns or issues in their life. Thus they have created the free therapy week to view whether having registered therapists on taxis would help Stockholm citizens in their mental health.
Mia Fahlén, one of the psychiatrists involved in this project, spoke of her optimism for the program as it can aid people in different ways. Taxi rides generally do not last as long as clinical therapy sessions so, as Fahlén has stated, the psychiatrist has to be flexible. This however can lead to the rider getting a couple minutes, to an hours worth of therapy, which can hopefully lead them on the right track for future consultations.
If successful, the therapy taxis can become a simple means of consulting a mental health professional for a short period of time to discern whether more appointments are necessary. Another plus of the program is that it does not take time out of the clients day, as it uses time that would only be used for transportation anyways. This is important in Stockholm, as with many other prominent cities, as it is a business hub and the maleffects of stress are far reaching. The therapy taxi can then aid those who are combatting work stress, while not taking more time out of their day that a regular consulting session would.
Soon we can see if the Stockholm experiment was successful and more people have consulted with mental health professionals due to the therapy taxi service. They are said to be doing this experiment for at least one week, and we can hope that by expanding where one can consult psychiatrists, we will see more people being able to be diagnosed of mental illness.