Mental Health
What is Mental Health?
Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It is directly involved with our behaviour, ability to handle stress and comprehension of healthy choices. Mental health can be affected by trauma, disorders and environment. Australians report a significant impact from anxiety-related issues. Some other disorders may include depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviours.
56% of adults with mental illness receive no treatment.
800,000 Australians live with severe mental illness.
How Does This Happen?
Mental illness can effect anyone and there is no single identifiable cause. Mental health issues can be attributed by a complexity of factors including genetics, trauma and responses to the environment. In many cases trauma and stress play a significant role in a heightened risk of mental illness. This could be a relationship breakdown, unemployment or social isolation. Traumatic experiences such as domestic violence, child sexual assault or living in a war zone can increase the likelihood of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury. Other impacts may include early life environment, biological and genetic factors and even personality traits such as perfectionism and low self-esteem.
Who Does This Happen To?
In 2020-2022, 39% of young adults (16-24) had a mental disorder, 12% higher than people aged 25-34. Mental illness often surfaces in mid-to-late adolescence and can be exacerbated by environmental factors. Anxiety and PTSD were common among mental illnesses with 3.4 million Australians being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Other disorders such as substance use disorders sat at 647,000 and 1.5 million Australians had a 12-month affective disorder.
It was also shown that the impact of mental health effects all genders significantly, with 45% of women and 32% of men being diagnosed with some kind of mental disorder.
Our Responsibility.
Almost half of Australians will face a mental health crisis at some point, showing that this affects every person whether personally diagnosed or not. The Australian response shows inadequate capacity to support those effected despite the longer term effects impacting substance abuse, suicide ideation and even triggering other mental health issues. We partner with PTSD Resurrected to support their peer-led Reboot Recovery Courses that provide healing pathways and rehabilitation for those suffering from trauma-induced mental health issues and PTSD.