Shattering Stigma: Raising Mental Health Awareness in October

October is National Mental Health Month. It’s all about raising awareness of mental health issues and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health. During this month, encourage open conversations with your family and friends, even if it’s just to say, ‘are you ok?’.

Key Stats on Mental Health Awareness

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ ‘National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing’ for 2020-21; the key statistics for mental health are:

• 43.7% of Australian’s aged between 16 – 85, have experienced a mental health disorder at some point in their lives; this equates to 8.6 million Australians.
• 4.2 million (21.4%) Australians had experienced a mental health disorder in their lives that lasted 12 months or more.
• For 16.8% or 3.3 million Australians, the most common mental health disorder lasting longer than 12 months was anxiety.

Beyond Blue reports that one in seven Australians in their lifetime will experience depression. This equates to 3.1 million people or 15.8% of the population. Between 2020-21, one in 13 Australians, aged 16-85 years, experienced depression symptoms. This equates to 7.5% or 1.5 million Australians in that age range.

Support Mental Health of the Loved Ones

There are many ways to strike up a conversation with your family or friends about mental health, beginning with choosing the right time and place. You may consider how long you may need or have a chat whilst doing an activity to ease the conversation. You can find conversation starting points on the Department of Health and Aged Care – Head to Health webpage.

It may be hard for an individual to be open about their mental health challenges. There are a range of ways to support someone who struggles with their mental health including:

• Monitor their body language – actions are sometimes louder than words.
• Actively listening to their concerns.
• Express genuine concern.
• Be patient.
• Ask open-ended questions to get the person to share their thoughts and emotions.
• Check in with the person.

These are a few ways to help support someone who struggles with their mental health. If you wish to learn more about mental health and how you can be supportive for your family or friends, check out the Beyond Blue webpage on ‘Mental Health’. If you are struggling with your own mental health, speak to a Medmate doctor today.