The State of Mental Health in Australia
October 9, 2014
The State of Mental Health in Australia
3 in 10 Australians have first hand experience with mental health issues in their family but only 18% feel adequately informed on the issue.
Mental Health Week has started and while the issue might be close to the Australian population with 34% of the population stating that they or an immediate family member has suffered from mental health issues, the level of knowledge about the issue is sadly missing. Only 18% of the Australian population felt extremely informed about mental health, while 33% felt they had little to no knowledge about mental health.
In a nationally representative study conducted by BrandHook on 1,100 Australian aged 18+, there was general low knowledge around issues like mental health, cyber bullying domestic violence, homelessness but mental health in terms of impact was 2nd to people or their immediate family to cancer.
“What’s interesting is that we’re seeing with Australians is that this is a topic that they’ve had personal dealings with but their level of knowledge on the subject is low” said Pip Stocks, Co-founder, BrandHook. “Initiatives like the ABC week is great in bringing mental health into the public sphere but these results clearly show that there’s more needed. When results showed 35% of Australians have been personally affected, it makes you realise the importance of this week.”
Those feeling less informed about the issue of mental health are males (14% c.f. 18%) and the 65+ age group (15%). Interestingly, the younger demographic (18-24 year olds) are the most informed about mental health issues (22% felt extremely informed).