How Common is Mental Illness?

The stigma that is often associated with individuals experiencing a mental illness spreads wide and deep within our society. From the offhand joke about “some nutter” to labelling someone as “dangerous and crazy”, mental illness stigma continues to plague our culture. With this sort of attitude engrained in our society, one would think that mental illness affects only a minor proportion of the population. What is surprising however is that mental illness is much more common than most would think! Did you know that mental illness is the fourth most common reason for presentation at a GP?

In a National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that 1 in 5 Australians aged between 16 and 85 will experience a mental illness in any given year. Furthermore, it was found that a staggering 45% of Australians had experienced a mental disorder sometime in their lifetime. The most common mental illnesses experienced were anxiety disorders (14%) followed by depressive disorders (6%) and substance abuse disorders (5%). Unfortunately, only 35% of people with a mental illness access any sort of treatment.

A further cause for concern is the fact that mental illness is becoming increasingly more common among our youth. It has been reported that 1 in 4 Australians aged between 18 and 24 will experience a mental illness every year. What is more, the standardised death rate for mental health disorders has increased from 16.5 per 100,000 population in 2000 to 25.2 per 100, 000 of the population in 2009. Clearly, something needs to be done to improve the mental health of Australians and provide the support they need to overcome the challenges associated with living with such a condition!

The first step in the battle to overcoming mental illness stigma is raising awareness of the conditions themselves. Through knowledge comes understanding, so what follows is a short summary of the main mental illnesses affecting Australians and what they involve:

Anxiety Disorders

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Often occurs in people who have been exposed to a life-threatening or potentially fatal event impacting the affected individual themselves, a close friend or relative. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD in the population ranges from 1% to 14%. Symptoms of PTSD include:

• Re-experiencing - Includes intrusive thoughts or memories of the events that occur unexpectedly

• Hyperarousal - includes anxiety, impaired ability to sleep, hypervigilance and an increased startle response

• Emotional numbing - refers to an inability to experience happiness as well as difficulty connecting emotionally with others

• Avoidance - due to guilt about having escaped while others died or were badly injured, involves social withdrawal and feelings of helplessness

Social Phobia

Social Phobia refers to an exaggerated fear of embarrassing oneself in a social or performance setting. It is among one of the most common mental health problems, affecting approximately 5% of people with a mental illness.

Agoraphobia

A fear of being exposed or put in a situation whereby escape is not possible.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Involves persistent symptoms of anxiety, including hyperarousal and excessive worrying over a period of at least six months. GAD is often described as a chronic, subjective sense of fear with no obvious precipitant. The excessive worrying may be related to concerns such as death, interpersonal relationships and problems with friendships or financial matters. Symptoms tend to increase in severity over time impacting daily functioning. Approximately 3% of people with a mental disorder experience GAD.

Panic Disorders

Episodic panic attacks and periods of intense anxiety that have a sudden onset and increase in intensity over a short period of time. During the attack, the patient has confronting cardiac and respiratory symptoms that lead them to believe they are about to die. Between attacks the affected individual develops an anticipatory anxiety as well as an intense fear of having another attack, furthermore limiting their functioning.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

People with OCD experience recurrent, unwanted, intrusive, negative feelings, thoughts, and images (called “obsessions”) and anxiety. The anxiety is relieved to a certain extent by performing non-pleasurable, repetitive actions (called “compulsions”) and sometimes by the obsessive thinking itself. These compulsive behaviours can hours of time and often lead to medical consequences.

Affective Disorders

Depressive Episode

Major depressive episodes accounts for 4% of individuals with a mental illness. To be diagnosed with a major depressive episode, affected individuals must have experienced a depressed mood or loss of pleasure or interest in daily activities for at least 2 weeks. This alteration in mood must be abnormal to the individual’s normal mood an impairment of their normal social, educational, occupational or other functioning must be observed.

Bipolar Affective Disorder

Previously known as ‘manic depression’, individuals affected with bipolar disorder experience periods of depression and mania, interspersed with periods of normal mood. Periods of ‘mania’ are opposite to that of depression and include difficulty focusing on tasks, racing thoughts, having boundless energy, feeling wonderful and a lack of need for sleep. This may escalate to episodes of psychosis in which individuals lose touch with reality and experience hallucinations or delusions. Bipolar disorder affects approximately 2% of people with a mental disorder.

Dysthmia

In this disorder, individuals experience symptoms similar to that of major depression however the severity is less and the symptoms last for a longer period of time. To be diagnosed with Dysthmia, an individual must have experienced mild depression for more than two years. Around 1.3% of people with a mental illness are diagnosed with Dysthmia.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results, 2007. [Internet]. 2009 [cited 2015 Mar 23]; ABS cat. no. 4326.0. Available from: http://www.abs.gov.au

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Year Book Australia, 2012. [Internet]. 2012 [cited 2015 Mar 19]; ABS cat. no. 1301.0. Available from: http://www.abs.gov.au

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia’s health 2008 [Internet]. 2008 [cited 2015 Mar 20]; AIHW cat. no. AUS 99. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442468102

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The Burden of Disease and Injury in Australia [Internet]. 2007 [cited 2015 Mar 23]; AIHW cat. no. PHE 82. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442467990

Department of Health and Ageing. National Mental Health Report 2010 [Internet]. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2010 [cited 2015 Mar 20]. Available from: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-n-report10

Fadem, B. Behavioural Science in Medicine. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2012.