Mental health issues were growing at an alarming rate before covid-19, with one in five Australians experiencing a mental or behavioural disorder in any given year.
The pandemic has accelerated this trend and made it harder for already-stretched mental health services to deal with demand. Mental health hospitalisations among children have increased substantially during the pandemic, while mental health distress levels have doubled for young workers.
While this data is startling, a lack of data is one of the key issues in the gaps we have in mental health care, much more so than other chronic and acute healthcare issues.
Improving our data on mental health in Australia is made harder by the fact that those that suffer seek help from a range of services...
