Australians living with severe mental illness continue to die around 15 years earlier than the general population. The majority of this gap is driven not by suicide but by preventable physical health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
Maintaining treatment in the community, minimising admissions to hospital and shorter lengths of stay are common goals of community treatment orders. However, there is mounting evidence that too many people placed on these orders don’t experience these potential benefits. We found that any decreases in readmissions or the length of hospital stay mainly occur in people with non-affective psychoses such as schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder and drug induced psychoses even though people with many other diagnoses are also placed on orders. The disparities in the use of these orders raise concerns over equity and whether untargeted application could be doing more harm than good.
The National Mental Health Commission’s 2024 Report Card, released in July, shines a spotlight on the urgent need for a more coordinated and equitable mental health system in Australia.
We know young people in Australia and worldwide are experiencing growing mental health challenges.
The INTEGRATE project offers a concise, algorithmic guideline for schizophrenia pharmacotherapy, co-designed by global experts and those with lived experience.
Despite changes to mandatory reporting obligations in 2018, many Australian doctors remain hesitant to seek treatment for mental health concerns, fearing they might be reported to the regulator. Dispelling this perception is vital to ensure doctors seek treatment when they need it.
The Living with Anxiety study aims to identify genes that influence a person’s risk of developing anxiety disorders and genes that impact how well treatments for anxiety work.
A national primary-care based trial is the largest ever to determine whether lifestyle therapy is as good as psychological care for improving mental and cardiometabolic outcomes for Australians with serious mental illness.
Anxiety disorders and depressive illnesses are very common, but only a small proportion of those affected have access to evidence-based care. Psychological treatment provided via the internet can address some of that unmet need.
