We were asking only a few weeks ago what on earth your mental health even is and now it seems that Australia needs to up its game with results of a huge mental health check-in released today.
Shockingly, it seems that the conventional approaches that we rely on to manage mental health are proving expensive, time-consuming and inaccurate, and just aren’t getting the job done.
So how do we know this?
Well, over 3,100 Aussies recently took part in a work-place survey, which first measured their levels of depression, anxiety, stress and ability to sleep soundly (aka your mental health) via an online questionnaire. They then wore some pretty cool new tech in the form of a Fitbit-style gadget from emerging leaders in this field, Medibio (they’ve recently appointed Olympic great Michael Phelps to their Board), that measured their heart rate when asleep.
Some impressive analysis of that data takes place and hey presto, you can get a report outlining your current mental health state, risk factors, tips for avoiding these triggers, and measure yourself against the rest of the population.
The results from Australia’s biggest ever mental health check-in revealed that an incredible 39 per cent of participants were living with depression, while another 37 per cent met the criteria for anxiety disorders. More worryingly, nine-in-10 participants exhibiting symptoms of a severe mental health illness weren’t undergoing or receiving any treatment for it.
It is Gen Z (18-24) that are recording the highest levels of depression and anxiety, followed by Gen Y (25-34). Gen X (45-54) are actually least likely to be living with a mental health illness. Perhaps this isn’t surprising given the fact that some of the key behaviours influencing your mental health are thought to be self-criticism, perfectionism and low self-awareness. Do social media channels like Instagram have a lot to answer for on this front?
Psychologist and founder of Vital Conversations, Peta Slocombe, created the check-in and paints a harsh picture of the reality for lots of Aussies.
“Life is evidently much harder for many Australian adults than what it should be. Of all the problems in the world that are unsolvable, mental health is not one of them.
“Our sobering check-in outcomes aggressively challenge the deployment of traditional approaches in the optimal management and treatment of mental health, such as one-on-one psychological support, GP visits and medication, given their questionable effectiveness, accuracy, and associated time and costs.
“Our check-in was designed to make it cheaper, faster and more efficient for people to undertake a mental health check, and to arm participants with appropriate and accurate mental health-related information, and support.”
If you’d like your workplace to take part in the check-in, find out more by visiting the Vital Conversations website.
You can check out more about Medibio’s tech and their ground-breaking research into a new way of diagnosing mental health disorders here.