Role Of Mental Health In Australia

Mental illness disorders and suicide as surveys and statistics would show, affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at a higher rate than the rest of the Australian population (Elder, Evans, Nizette, 2013). Thirty percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 18 years and over experienced some sort psychological distress at a greater than normal level during the year 2012 to 2013 (ABS, 2015). Compared to other Australians, the Indigenous people aged 18 years and over were three times more prone to experiencing psychological distress than the rest of the Australian population (ABS, 2015). Mental health services treat more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in contrast with the Non-Aboriginal population, around

It is important that the strategy has to draw on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, understanding what they need and provide the most effective way to reduce the mental illness and suicide prevention (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2009). According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfares, “Closing the gap” is a continuing national program which to help closing the gap of mental health of ATSI people. In the area of improving the mental health of Indigenous people, one strategy under the program is the National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006-2011. This plan elaborates that health practitioners who working in Indigenous community are being trained to identify and address mental illness, as well as other associated issues among indigenous people and make referrals for their treatment. In addition, the national plan also highlights that develop the capacity of health practitioner, local community and community organisation, provide better professional support and resources to enable Indigenous people to improve their mental health and develop cultural awareness and suicide prevention training for local health practitioner in mainstream

The NSW Mental Health Act 2007 lays down the foundation in the proper provision and facilitation of care and treatment to persons with mental health disorders and promote their recovery while protecting the rights of these persons. One of the provisions of the Act uplifting this objective is in the involvement of family and nominated carers of patients. As defined by the Act, designated carers may represent from the person’s guardians; the parent

A national strategy for promoting mental wellbeing and mental health is No Health Without Mental Health.

The definition of health and illness varies across societies due to their differing cultural, social and ethnic beliefs. The description associated with health and illness has been socially constructed so that the view of a medical profession is the most accurate. There is a general conception to think of health habits such as exercise and consuming a healthy diet when the terms health and illness are mentioned. However it is thought that the conditions that determine health changes are heavily based on one’s social conditions as it is seen that diseases occur in patterns. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) “health is a complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” Social

2. Andrews, G. & Slade, T. (2001) ‘Interpreting scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol 25(6), 494-7.3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2011) The health of Australia’s prisoners 2010, Cat. No. PHE 149, Canberra.4. Beck, A.T. & Steer, R.A. (1987) Beck Hopelessness Scale Manual. The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio.5. Beck, A. T. & Steer, R. A. (1990) Beck Anxiety Inventory Manual, San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.6. Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A. & Brown, G.K. (1996) Beck Depression Inventory II Manual, The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio.7. Berwick, D., Murphy, J., Goldman, P., Ware, J., Barsky, A. and Weinstein, M., Performance of a five-item mental health screening test, Medical Care 1991, 29:169-176.8. Beyond Blue n.d., ‘Checklists to Identify Depression and Anxiety’, viewed 16 January 2012, 9. Commonwealth of Australia (2009) Fourth National Mental Health Plan, An agenda for collaborative government action in mental health 2009–2014, Attorney-General’s Department, Barton, Australian Capital Territory. 10. Commonwealth of Australia (2009) National Mental Health Policy 2008, Attorney-General’s Department, Barton, Australian Capital Territory.11. Coombs, T. (2005) ‘Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network; Kessler -10 Training Manual’, NSW Institute of Psychiatry.

Mental health in Australia is based on the western medical model of illness (Drew, Adams and Walker, 2014) which has an individual focus and thereby tends to ignore the holistic, alternative therapies which may be centred on the family, community, religion etc. Given the importance that traditional healers hold in the Aboriginal community, it is important, that a practitioner acknowledge these

Aboriginal have a higher incidence of mental health illness and psychological distress in comparison to the non-indigenous population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). The rate of suicides is almost twice that of non- indigenous Australians with the risk being the highest in the younger age group (15 to 19 years) (Department of Health and Ageing, 2013). Multiple challenges and barriers including communication, stigma and distance from the services limit access to health services thus further aggravating the burden of mental health illness.

The 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing Results revealed that at some stage in their lives, up to 45% of Australians will experience a mental illness, with 20% of the Australians surveyed in the 16-85 age group having experienced a mental illness within the 12 months preceding the survey

In Australia 3 million people suffer from depression and on average 1 in 5 women and 1 in 8 men will experience depression in some form. Depression is a ‘mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.’ Signs of depressive behaviour are not going out anymore, withdrawing from close family and friends, relying on alcohol and sedatives and an inability to concentrate. People often feel overwhelmed, miserable, indecisive and irritable as well as negative thought such as “I am worthless”. Depression is the leading cause of disability in Australia, consequently having a huge impact on the economy.

There has been many issues affecting the Australia’s mental health work: • Changing demography and disease patterns as the population ages, and the burden of chronic illness grows - The ageing population of Australia makes it difficult for the health services to sustain health and wellbeing, handle serious and existing illness, and offer support for the frail and disabled. • Increasing costs of medical advances and the need to ensures that there are comprehensive, efficient and transparent processes for assessing health technologies - Technology now is much more advanced than the medical technology in the past few years. Since there’s been new medical technologies, there’s also high cost of it. Australia has a desirable record in the assessment

Mental health problems are considered to “interfere with how a person thinks, feels and behaves” (Australian Government Department of Health, 2007, para. 3). Considered to be more prominent, yet less severe than mental illnesses, mental health problems are experienced for

About 45% of Australians will experience a mental health in their life time with one in four people experiencing their mental health problems during their teen and young adulthood. Promotions like this have helped people become diagnosed with the mental health and get treatment before anything gets worse. Depression is one of most known mental health today. Many people come to this promotion to understand what they are going through and how to treat their depression. About 4% of Australians will or have experienced an episode of depression for a 12 month period and depression has a percentage of 4.1 for most common to have. Anxiety is the most common mental health in Australia with a percentage of 14.4. Anxiety is most common in young adults and teens. Many teens that suffer from anxiety have low attendance levels for school which is why BeyondBlue was developed toward the younger generations

Mental health problems have very high rates of prevalence; they are often of long duration, and have adverse effects on many areas of people’s lives, including educational performance, employment, income, personal relationships and social participation;

Society negative attitudes toward the individual with mental illness is the main cause of the unemployment of individuals with mental illness. Negatives attitudes within the community include prejudice, intolerance and labelling of an individual with mental illness as dangerous people. These stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental illness when is still high at the workplace. Such bad attitudes result to the individual dropping out of work or are relieved from their duty due to fear by employers because of their mental illness condition. For example, if one employee begins to complain, this discontent can spread quickly to other workers. This kind of workplace situations does not support and meet the needs of an individual with mental illness.