The latest figures from the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare indicate that some of the most vulnerable are struggling even harder than most.
People with disabilities are experiencing very high rates of mental health problems and psychological distress. However, health professionals often do not feel equipped to treat people who experience both disabilities and mental health problems.
About one in six Australians has a disability, which equates to around 4.4 million people.
The latest figures show that two-thirds of people with disabilities report low to moderate levels of psychological distress, while around a third report high or very high levels of psychological distress.
This compares with 92 percent of people without disabilities reporting low to moderate psychological distress, and 8 percent reporting high or very high distress.
Nearly a quarter of adults living with a disability report that their mental health has worsened during the pandemic period.
Because the difference?
Research tells us that there is a strong link between physical health and mental health.
Some health behaviors are likely to have a detrimental effect on well-being, such as poor diet and inactivity.
In general, people with disabilities are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors than people without disabilities.
This includes not eating enough fruits and vegetables each day (47% vs. 41%), being overweight or obese based on body mass index (72% vs. 55%), and not getting enough physical activity for their age. (72 percent vs. 52 percent).
People with disabilities not only have higher rates of mental health problems and health risk behaviors, but also face significant barriers when it comes to accessing timely and effective health care.
These barriers include long wait times for medical care, inaccessible buildings, costs, and experiences of discrimination, including from health professionals.
Being disabled or having mental health problems, but not both
Working in the mental health and disability sectors, it is not uncommon to hear of people falling between the cracks in services.
Someone can present to a specific health service for a disability and be turned away due to a co-occurring mental health difficulty.
They could then present themselves to a mental health service and be turned away because they have a disability.
A number of factors contribute to this problem. Services are often funded in a way that requires them to have certain criteria for clients that can be seen. Unfortunately, this means that those who do not meet the criteria are rejected.
Health and mental health professionals agree that people with disabilities have a right to good mental health care and access to services. But clinicians such as psychologists and counselors report low confidence when working with people with disabilities and insufficient training on how to best help them.
Barriers can cause discrimination
For a long time, people with certain disabilities, such as intellectual disability, were excluded from many mental health treatments.
It was assumed that due to learning and information processing difficulties, they did not have the capacity to participate in therapy.
Only in the last decade has this begun to change, with emerging mental health treatment programs developed specifically for people with disabilities.
Lack of training can also result in a form of discrimination called “diagnosis overshadowing.”
This is when a health professional attributes a person’s symptoms to an existing disability or mental illness, rather than fully exploring the symptoms and considering alternative diagnoses.
Often once a patient has a confirmed diagnosis, there is a tendency to attribute all new behaviors or symptoms to that diagnosis. As a result, diagnoses can be inaccurate or missed. And the treatment might not be adequate or effective.
Investment and training needed
If we want to improve the mental health and well-being of people living with a disability, more investment is needed.
Physicians and professionals require specialized training to work with clients with disabilities and mental illness.
We also need more collaboration between health, disability and mental health professionals, and more communication so that services work together and not in isolation.
We can refer to the University of New South Wales Department of Developmental Disabilities Neuropsychiatry, Sydney University of Technology Graduate School of Health, and Westmead Children’s Hospital for examples of mental health and disability needs that are addressed. they are integrating Other services should follow this path.
As always, prevention and early intervention are key. While it is important for us to be able to effectively treat people who need help, it is also important for us to curb the rising trend of mental illness.
(This PTI story was distributed via The Conversation)
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