SOS Voz Amiga took 11,000 calls last year and about 1,000 a month now. Women over 60 are the ones who ring; men over 60 do not, and 80 of every 100 suicides in Portugal are men. Its president wants a secretary of state for loneliness.
Sofia Ramalho of the Ordem dos Psicologos Portugueses says the wait for a first appointment runs to six months and the gaps between sessions to months more. A promised reinforcement of 300 in primary care is, she says, clearly insufficient.
A new edition of the Cheque-Psicólogo and Cheque-Nutricionista opens the vouchers to everyone aged 12 to 35 — not just students — and raises each to €40, widening a subsidised route to mental-health and nutrition appointments under the Cuida-te programme.
The Ministério da Saúde opened a €50 million programme on 8 June letting SNS ULS apply through 8 July for urgência refits — buildings and equipment at up to 100% of eligible cost — with psychiatric urgências flagged as particular priority on a window running to 2027.
Infarmed data show Portugal dispensed close to 29.4 million psychotropic packages in 2025 — 80,000 a day — with the SNS spending €152 million on the bill. Antidepressant packages are up 82% in ten years; anxiolytic use per capita is the highest in the EU.
Where to get mental health help in Portugal: the SNS 24 counselling line in English, your family doctor, hospital care, medicines, and what to do in a crisis.
