Visibility, importance and recognition of mental health problems in Bulgaria are rising again, a national survey by the polling agency Myara shows. It found that 65.3% of people think the best solution is to see a specialist.
This is the third round of the survey, which the KOZHA – Platform for Mental Health foundation ordered. The 2026 results are compared with those from 2020 and 2023. Ahead of Mental Health Day, the agency interviewed 801 people face to face between 3 and 11 September.
For 18.2%, relatives and friends are the best solution, while 5.8% say a person should cope alone. More than 90% say seeing a psychologist is sometimes needed, but 8.5% see it as a whim. The share who find a visit to a psychiatrist shameful has changed in each of the three rounds. Attitudes to professional help have stayed much the same over the whole period.
Some 37.7% of those surveyed know people with a mental disorder, 41.7% do not, and 16% are not sure. About 40% answered "yes" to the same question in 2020 and 32% in 2023. People aged 36 to 60 are the most likely to know someone, at about 43-44%. The youngest and oldest people know someone less often.
Some 53.7% say a person who admits to a mental disorder can count on help from those around them, while 46.3% expect people to avoid them. In 2023, 58% expected to be avoided, and in 2020 it was 45%. If a colleague says they take antidepressants, 54.2% expect co-workers to help, and 45.8% see it as a personal problem that should not be shared. In 2023 the split was the other way round, and in 2020 more people expected support than in 2026.
Myara says people most easily recognise schizophrenia, self-harm and depression. Post-traumatic stress disorders, eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder come next. More than half of those surveyed do not count stress and anxiety as mental health problems, while 40% count anxiety as one. Myara says falling in love, nostalgia, sadness and anger are usually not seen as mental illness.
A little over a third of those surveyed think people with addictions lack the willpower to quit, while two-thirds see them as people with an illness. Asked whether addiction can be overcome, 42% say yes for drugs, 51% for gambling, 63% for alcohol, 74% for cigarettes and tobacco, and 76% for food. Myara says the more often people see addictions as an illness, the more they believe addictions can be overcome.
Myara says the question about help from others shows what people expect from those around them, not necessarily how ready they are to give support themselves. The results on seeking a specialist reflect stated attitudes. They do not show how many people have actually sought help, or how easy it is to get.
The agency says three rounds are not yet enough to show firm long-term trends, so more surveys are needed.