Teenage suicides could be sign of pandemic mental health toll

An alarming increase in deaths by suicide among young women this year could be the first sign of a tragic but expected result of the pandemic, a former national mental health commission chair says.

National Mental Health Commission former chair Allan Fels. Picture: Ian Currie

A former chair of the National Mental Health Commission says an increase in suicide rates among young Victorian women in the first seven months of this year could be emerging evidence of a predicted rise.

Allan Fels, also a former commissioner of the royal commission into Victoria’s mental health system, said young people were in need of improved access to mental health support after The Australian revealed eight teenage girls took their own lives this year.

“Some experts predicted a rise in suicides (due to the pandemic). It has not happened generally so far but this could be the first early sign,” Professor Fels said. “Prolonged lockdowns … magnify the severity of those experiencing mental health problems.”

Victoria’s mental health system is “failing” and it’s capacity to cope with high levels of demand is in­adequate, Professor Fels said.

“The duration of the pandemic is triggering corresponding serious long-term effects which might have been ignorable in a short pandemic. The pre-existing mental health system does not do enough for young people; it’s problems are magnified by the pandemic. Some measures have been taken but more needs to be done.”

New data from Victoria’s Coroner’s Court showed eight girls died by suicide to July 31, up from just one in the first seven months of last year. In the same period in 2019, Coroner’s Court statistics show three teenage girls took their own lives while the number was four in 2018 and three in 2017.

The court said it was too early to determine whether the data represented a trend but it would monitor the situation closely.

Beyond Blue chief Georgie Harman agreed it was too early to know whether the increase in suicides was a pattern. “We all hope that it isn’t (a trend) but it is incredibly concerning and suicide has ­always been gendered,” she said.

“The bottom line for me is we know this system is broken.”

Structural reform, not Band-Aid solutions, was needed to mend the country’s mental health system Ms Harman said. “We need governments to come together in the way they did so effectively in the early stages of the pandemic and come up with a single plan to turn this around because there isn’t a moment to lose,” she said.

Black Dog Institute director of research Jennie Hudson said “(the figures) are concerning. The data emerging from our Future Proofing study last year showed increases in suicidal ideation but across Australia we hadn’t seen an increase in suicide. Previously there hadn’t been this increase in suicide so it is concerning.

“It does match the increases in anxiety and depression symptoms we are seeing everywhere else.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Monday the state’s sixth lockdown would be extended by two weeks and a 9pm to 5am curfew enforced.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said authorities would prioritise a return to school for later year high school students as soon as possible amid concerns about their mental health and academic performance. “We can’t afford to have our kids out of school forever and locked in homes forever. All the support of mental health agencies … is to try and support kids through this as well,” he said.

“There is no escaping that this is not how, as human beings, we were designed to live or that it is not profoundly challenging to our mental health, but getting out of it is the solution as much as anything,” he said.

Mental Health Minister James Merlino said: “We have invested more than $300m this year to boost specialised youth mental health services. Construction is under way on a new 20-bed youth prevention and recovery care centre in northwest Melbourne.”