Australian mental health
March 1, 2013
AN estimated 7.3 million
Australians aged 16 to 85 have a
lived experience of a mental illness,
according to the latest report from
the Mental Health Commission.
According to the report, one in
five adults or 3.2 million Australians
will experience a mental health
difficulty in any year, with the most
common mental illnesses
being affective disorders which
include depression and bipolar
disorder, anxiety disorders
and substance use disorders.
Along with these frequently
occurring mental illnesses,
around 3 per cent of the adult
population, will experience a
severe mental illness such as
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder,
the report found.
Interestingly, the report also
noted that mental illnesses are the
leading cause of the non-fatal
disease burden in Australia (with
anxiety and depression, alcohol
abuse and personality disorders
accounting for almost threequarters
of the total burden).
“It is not good enough when we
know that as a nation we spent
over $6.3 billion or $287 per
Australian on mental health related
services in 2009-2010,” the report
card said.
“This expenditure has seen an
average annual increase of
4.5% of spending per Australian
between 2005-06 and 2009-10.
“But there is little or no
accountability as to what
improvements we are getting for
such a significant investment,
whether it improves the health and
wellbeing of people with a mental
illness and provides them with the
services they need,” the report card
added.
The report also noted that in
2009-10 there were 1,434
specialised mental health facilities
in Australia, 31.1 million
prescriptions of mental-health
related medicines dispensed by
community pharmacies in 2010-11
and 1.7 million Australians (or 8%
of the population) who received
public and/or private clinical
mental health services in 2009-10.
“Service provision and access to
treatment are important – but
they are not the whole story,” the
report said.
“At a national level, we don’t
measure whether we are providing
effective, evidence based mental
health care, or the appropriate
range of services to support a
person in their recovery, such as
helping people find and keep a
good job or a home.
“We do not collect routine
information to measure how we
support a person to have a
contributing life, across the cultural,
physical health, social, and
community aspects of their lives.
“We need to better understand
why in any year only 35% of the 3.2
million people who reported they
had a mental health difficulty in
the previous 12 months used
mental health services,” the report
card added.
For more information, see
mentalhealthcommission.gov.au.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 01 Mar 13To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 01 Mar 13
