The mental health of people in the Netherlands is under severe strain because of constant pressure to perform, accelerate and stand out as individuals, the government’s health advisory body RVS said on Monday.

In a new report titled Op de rem! (Hit the brakes!), the council warned that the Netherlands has become a “hypernervous society” where young and old alike are at risk.

Almost half of adults have experienced a mental illness, burnout cases among workers are rising and young people report growing stress linked to performance and social media, the agency said.

The cost of mental health problems, it said, is estimated at €18 billion a year, excluding lost schooling and benefits.

“Self-help books and mindfulness are well-meant but they only treat the symptoms,” psychiatrist and RVS member Floortje Scheepers told Trouw.

“Our collective mental wellbeing is under pressure, thanks to the general focus on efficiency, performance and haste. We cannot put responsibility on individuals alone when the pressure is so widespread.”

The RVS argues that current approaches to restoring mental health focus too much on making people more resilient through training and coping strategies, while ignoring the structural causes.

“As long as society continues to raise its demands, there will be no end to it. We need to calm the hypernervous society itself,” the council said in its advice.

Examples include reducing the number of school tests, allowing genuine free time rather than working through lunch breaks, and creating space for reflection and creativity. “Boredom can give us a reset,” Scheepers told Trouw, adding that more rest also improves sleep and prevents long-term illness.

The RVS hopes its warning will encourage the next cabinet to promote a more relaxed social culture, not only to improve quality of life but also to reduce the heavy economic burden of mental health problems.

In July, psychiatrists and occupational health experts in the Netherlands called for a review of how the Netherlands diagnoses and treats burn-out.