Imagine if there were a disease that affected two out of five young people in Australia.
That many of those young people were unable to go to school, form friendships or participate in important milestones of adolescence.
And many were so sick that they desperately needed medical care, but couldn’t get it.
We don’t have to imagine it: this is the reality facing young Australians right now.
This stark reality was laid bare in data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in July.
The National Survey of Mental Health revealed that the annual prevalence of mental health problems in young people aged 16 to 24 had increased from 26 percent in 2007 to 39 percent in 2020-21 — an unprecedented 50 percent increase in 15 years.
Our young people are in serious trouble.
The mental health of young women is worsening even faster than that of young men. These rates of mental illness are twice the level of the rest of the Australian adult population.
If there had been such a drastic increase in the prevalence of cancer, heart disease, or any other major disease, it would be the catalyst for urgent and decisive action.
It would be on the front page of the newspapers and major television news bulletins and the political leadership would be forced to respond.
But not that far.
the danger zone
We know that the transition from childhood to adulthood is the peak period for the onset of mental health problems and persistent mental disorders of adulthood.
Half of all health conditions experienced during this developmental period are related to mental health, and the most common cause of death among young people is suicide.
This means that mental illness has become the number one chronic disease throughout life, ahead of arthritis, asthma and diabetes.
And despite being the leading cause of disability in Australia, it was an afterthought in NDIS reform.
As Professor Bobby Duffy of the Institute of Policy at Kings College London highlighted in his recent book, Generations, the neglect of young people, and especially their mental health, has been a global phenomenon throughout history.
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Limitations to progress
However, Australia has been the first high-income country to respond to the problem through successful national programs such as headspace, which will soon be in 164 communities. This is a true bipartisan achievement.
Twelve other nations have now followed our lead in building a youth-friendly entry channel to the health system, capable of responding to milder, shorter-term conditions.
Such improved models of primary care represent a base camp for the construction of a complete system of care and produce very good results for the mildest conditions and in the early stages.
But the surge in need for care revealed in the ABS survey has overwhelmed this base camp, with significant staff losses and growing waiting lists.
A new financial model and expanded workforce options are long overdue.
In addition, headspace was only intended as the first stage of a new multi-level youth mental health care system.
It urgently needs to be supported by a second tier capable of responding effectively to the “missing middle”: those young people, the majority in fact, who have more persistent and complex conditions and need evidence-based, team-based intervention to get back on their feet. and flourish.
These specialized models of care have been carefully designed and tested and are ready to scale.
The alarming data from the National Mental Health Survey means this simply cannot take any longer.
The reforms to date are nowhere near the scale and depth required, and are under extreme stress amplified by the pandemic.
The lack of any sense of urgency to respond stands in stark contrast to the public health response to COVID itself, and what would happen if such increases in need occurred in cases of cancer, asthma, or diabetes.
Where is the public voice here? Why is there such limited public mobilization in our own interest as a society?
How to turn the tide
The other vital response is preventive.
We need to understand much more clearly what trends and risk factors are contributing to this rapid deterioration in emerging adult mental health.
There are many candidates and much speculation, but serious research is needed to determine what malleable risk factors we should target to turn back this tide.
At Orygen, a youth mental health organization, we have expanded the focus of our policy unit to create the Orygen Institute and look forward to partnering with analysts and experts from a variety of fields to meet this challenge in the coming months and years.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has indicated that he intends to October budget to be a “welfare budget”.
According to economist Mariana Mazzucato, this means prioritizing value for society when allocating public spending.
The World Economic Forum has shown that mental illness is the leading cause of health GDP loss, with twice the impact of cancer.
The Productivity Commission revealed the $200 billion annual cost to the economy of insufficient gross spending on prevention and mental health care.
And a strong body of scientific research confirms the cost effectiveness and return on investment of effective mental health care for youth.
Therefore, these alarming data from the National Mental Health Survey call for prevention and early intervention for the rising tide of mental illness in Australia’s young people, on whom our future prosperity depends, to be a top priority in the Australian budget. October “wellness”.
If not now when?
Patrick McGorry is Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and CEO of Orygen Youth Health.
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