Young Aussies growing more anxious, distressed: mental health commission head
Young Australians are more anxious and distressed than ever, according to the head of the National Mental Health Commission (NHMC) Christine Morgan.
Morgan on Sunday said the NMHC’s Connections 2022 tour, which has heard from more than 1,000 people around Australia during the last three months, has uncovered rising concerns about the well-being of the nation’s youth.
The resting pulse for Australian young people is much higher in terms of anxiety and psychological distress, she told the Australian Associated Press.
“When we dig deep into that, there’s a lot of conversation around the role of technology … it’s almost like it’s created a new form of school playground. There are different ways of having relationships and different ways of communicating,” she said.
“And we haven’t well equipped them for that new school playground. There’s a lot of implications in that for our young people.”
Housing availability was identified as a major contributing factor to poor mental health in Australia.
Morgan said the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated existing conditions around loneliness and a lack of human connection.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, about 44 percent of Australian adults will experience mental illness at some time in their life.
More than A$11 billion ($7.2 billion) were spent on mental health services in the financial year 2019-20.
“Ensuring that we can reach people in the communities or where they live, learn and work rather than expecting them to come to us is critical,” Morgan said.
