Mental Health Essay Example

Mental Health

Mental Health

The Incidence of Depression in Australia

Depression is one of the most widespread mental disorders in Australia. As mentioned by MHCA (2008), approximately 100,000 young people as well as one million adults in Australia are living with depression yearly. Averagely, 20% of Australian people are likely to experience depression. Depression is very common amongst the young people aged between 12 and 25 years and around 10% of young Australians would likely experience anxiety disorder yearly (MHCA, 2008). As pointed out by MHCA (2008), approximately one-third of young Australians have experienced mental illness before attaining the age of 25 years. Depression is one of the leading medical causes of disability and death within a period of twenty years. As mentioned by
Headspace (2016), depression is normally related to other mental illnesses. At least two-thirds of young Australians with depression are suffering from at least one comorbid mental disorder. In contrast to young people without depression, young depressed people are 4 to 11 times inclined to have disruptive behaviour disorder, 6 to12 times inclined to have anxiety, and 3 to 6 times inclined to have problems associated with substance abuse. In young people, depressive disorders are a risk factor that normally results in suicide. Depressed people normally have co-occurring symptoms associated with other mental disorders such as anxiety. As a result, this could increase the intricacy of making an accurate as well as early diagnosis. Due to high personal depression costs, which include a high risk of suicide, it is imperative for depressed people to get effective treatment. This is important considering that depressive illness affects 6 per cent of all adults in Australia.The Incidence of Suicide in Australia

The rate of suicide in Australia is extremely high; nearly 3,027 people, for instance, committed suicide in 2015 (Butler, 2016). That is to say, almost eight Australians were committing suicide daily. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, many suicide cases are attributed to various medical issues such as mental problems, cancer, heart diseases, and many others. Suicide was the main cause of death for persons aged between 15 and 4 years and the second main cause of death for persons aged between 45 and 54 years (Butler, 2016 ). In 2015, suicide resulted in 33.9 per cent deaths amongst people aged between 15 and 24 years, and over 27.7 per cent of Australians aged between 25 and 34 years. As mentioned by Mindframe (2016), suicide is a major public health issue in Australia. Astonishingly, males in the 85+ age group recorded 68 deaths as a result of suicide. This rate of suicide, according to Mindframe (2016), was significantly higher as compared to the age-specific suicide rate witnessed in every other age group. As of 2015, the age-standardised rate of suicide per 100,000 people was 12.7 and the number of suicide deaths has almost 3 times higher amongst the males as compared to the females. Most of the people who died through suicide in 2015 (75.6%) were male. In 2015, suicide contributed to 1.9 per cent of deaths in Australia. The rate of suicide amongst the
young Australians is at the highest level despite the fact that the government has come up with prevention strategies. Suicides amongst the youths are likely to happen in clusters as compared to the adult suicides. The people who are at high risk of suicide are from Aboriginal communities.One Community Group at Risk of Depression

The elderly people are a group of persons at risk of depression, considering that between 10 and15 per cent of older people in Australia living in the community are experienced depression (AIHW, 2015). Amongst the older population, there are certain sub-groups of that are at higher risk of depression; for instance, in 2012, over 52 per cent of all people in permanent aged care had major symptoms of depression (AIHW, 2015). Old people with physical comorbidities or in hospitals are at risk of depression. There are numerous factors which increase the risk of developing depression amongst the older people: medications’ side-effects, social isolation, hospital admission, personal losses, major changes in living arrangements and many others. A combination of various factors could result in the development of depression. Other factors that result in late life depression include complex interactions amongst cognitive diathesis, stressful events, age-associated neurobiological changes as well as genetic vulnerabilities. Furthermore, Insomnia is another risk factor that could lead to late life depression. Elderly people are less inclined to ratify depression’ cognitive-affective symptoms such as worthlessness/guilt and dysphoria as compared to younger people, but fatigue, sleep disturbance, and hopelessness are prevalent in late-life depression.

One Community Group at Risk of Suicide

The community group at risk of suicide is people with medical conditions considering that suicide happens more frequently amongst people with particular psychiatric illnesses (such as substance abuse, bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia and major depression (Coughlin & Sher, 2014 ). alcohol misuse, anxiety and depression disorders are some of the factors that result in suicide. People with medical conditions are inclined to harm themselves, especially the young people. There is a relationship between chronic physical illness and suicidal behaviour. People suffering from type I diabetes mellitus, asthma, cancer and epilepsy are more likely to commit suicide. Besides that, people with HIV/AIDS, heart disease, kidney disorder and Parkinson’s disease are likely to harm themselves. For people having traumatic brain injury, they are more likely to commit suicide, while those suffering from HIV/AIDS and sleeping disorders were at a high risk of dying by suicide. Together with different rates amongst the medical conditions, people with multiple medical conditions have considerably high risk of suicide. Mental illness is one of the main causes of suicide, especially for people who have tried different medications, experienced medication withdrawals, and various therapies. People who have failed to treat their depressive symptoms are more likely to commit suicide. Dealing with chronic pain every day can also drive a number of people into depression, and sometimes into committing suicide. A number of psychiatric drugs such as benzodiazepines and antipsychotics can make a person feel suicidal.

References

AIHW. (2015). Mental health of older Australians. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Butler, J. (2016 , September 28). Australia’s Suicide Crisis Has Peaked To A Terrifying New Height. Retrieved from HuffPost Australia : http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/09/27/australias-suicide-crisis-has-peaked-to-a-terrifying-new-height_a_21480647/

Coughlin, S. S., & Sher, L. (2014 , February 3). Suicidal Behavior and Neurological Illnesses. Retrieved from PMC: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3910083/

Headspace. (2016). Understanding depression – for health professionals. Retrieved from Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation: https://headspace.org.au/health-professionals/understanding-depression-for-health-professionals/

MHCA. (2008). Statistics On Mental HealtH. Deakin, ACT: Mental Health Council of Australia.

Mindframe. (2016, September 28). Facts and stats about suicide in Australia. Retrieved from Mindframe: http://www.mindframe-media.info/for-media/reporting-suicide/facts-and-stats