‘Our mental health is collectively breaking’: One in five Australians had mental disorder in pandemic

One in five Australians had a mental health disorder during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, including 3.3 million people with anxiety disorders.

Nearly two in five of those aged 16 to 24 had a mental health disorder in 2020-21, and young women had the highest incidence of any group.

The figures were released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Friday, in one of the most comprehensive snapshots of the mental health of Australians to date.

Young women were the most likely group to experience a mental health disorder in the first two years of the pandemic.Credit: iStock

The study was commissioned by the former health minister Greg Hunt well before the pandemic.

Its findings contradict the pre-COVID norm, as the bureau’s National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing found Australian women were more likely than men to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviours in 2020 and 2021. According to Lifeline, 75 per cent of those who die by suicide in Australia are male.

Married people and those who had been married but were separated, divorced or widowed, were less likely to experience mental health problems than those who had never been married.

The bureau interviewed 5500 people in person, using questions based on the World Health Organisation’s international classification of diseases, to determine how many participants experienced a “12-month mental disorder”. The survey took about an hour and a half to complete.

A 12-month mental health disorder refers to people who met WHO criteria for having disorders including anxiety, affective disorders, such as depression, and substance-use disorders, including eating disorders, and who met the symptomatic criteria in the year prior to the ABS survey.

The survey, conducted between December 2020 and July 2021, found more than two in five Australians aged 16 to 85, or 8.6 million people, had experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life.

It defined a mental health disorder as a clinically diagnosable disorder that significantly interferes with an individual’s cognitive, emotional or social abilities.

The data supported census statistics that found young Australians reported far higher levels of mental distress than any other age group, and that pandemic upheaval had caused one in five Australians aged between 16 and 34 “high or very high levels of psychological distress”. That’s more than twice the rate of those aged 65 to 85, at 9 per cent.

The ABS found one in four females (24.6 per cent) had a mental disorder in 2020-21. Women experienced higher rates of anxiety disorders than men (21 per cent versus 12.4 per cent) and also had more affective disorders (8.5 per cent versus 6.2 per cent of men).

Corporate trainer and conference facilitator, Sandi Givens, lost all her income when the pandemic hit, and had moved, post-separation, to a suburb in which she had few connections.

Months of isolation in her apartment caused Givens such a serious bout of depression that she spent three months in hospital receiving treatment.

Corporate trainer and conference facilitator Sandi Givens lost all her income and became so isolated during 2020 that she spent three months in hospital with major depression. She is now thriving.Credit: Simon Schluter

”I would literally go to the drive-through at Maccas, get a coffee and sit in a carpark somewhere outside a supermarket, just so I could see people coming and going.

“I just thought, ’OK, well, here’s a strategy I can do so I don’t feel like I’m the last person left on earth; that was what the four walls surrounding me felt like,” said Givens, who has now recovered and is thriving.

Having great family and friends who arranged online catch-ups was some support, but Givens said even though she knew they were there if she needed to call them, she would wake up and stare at the ceiling of her room for up to a couple of hours.

“That is not normal for me.”

She experienced suicidal feelings and describes the stresses of pandemic life as “a huge trigger down the black tunnel”.

Givens now speaks as a volunteer for Beyond Blue and, as part of her business, runs workshops on mentally healthy workplaces.

Her message to those who may still be experiencing mental disorders due to pandemic life is that they should not hesitate to ask for professional help, and should feel no shame.

“You would not ignore a physical pain in your side for more than a week or two ... if you have mental or emotional pain for more than a week or two, I would urge you to see a medical specialist.”

Almost half of females aged 16 to 24 and one-third of males in that age group had mental health disorders in 2020-21.

Anxiety is sweeping through the country at unprecedented rates across all ages, but especially children, young people and women.

Dr Zena Burgess, CEO Australian Psychological Society

Men had almost twice the rate of substance-use disorder as women, with 4.4 per cent of men and 2.3 per cent of women experiencing a drug or alcohol abuse disorder, among the 19 million Australians aged 16 to 85.

Chief executive of the Australian Psychological Society, Dr Zena Burgess, said the research showed “our mental health is collectively breaking”. Radical change in federal funding policies was needed, she said.

The ABS figures confirm what clinicians have been saying, that “anxiety is sweeping through the country at unprecedented rates across all ages, but especially children, young people and women”.

“Typically women are more likely to have additional stress on top of the pandemic, such as more housework, poverty, job insecurity, sexual abuse and family violence,” she said.

“The combination of these factors makes it far more likely that women disproportionately suffer from anxiety and mental health disorders than men.”

Burgess warned of a high price to be paid for not addressing the findings.

“If we cannot function as individuals, we cannot function as a society,” she said.

“This is above politics. We must urgently ramp up care in all areas with the same unified approach we took for the pandemic. We cannot risk a lost generation on our watch.”

Linda Fardell, program manager for health and disability statistics at the ABS, said loneliness was likely a factor in people’s mental health conditions, especially among young people, who reported high levels of it.

Nearly 17 per cent of people surveyed said they had experienced serious suicidal thoughts or behaviours in their lifetimes, 7.7 per cent had made a plan and 4.8 per cent had attempted to end their lives.

There was no explanation found for why “women were more likely than men to have experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviours in their lifetime”.

The research also had not revealed why women had higher rates of all disorders bar substance abuse than men, but “the only positive aspect of that is that women are also much more likely than men to seek help from a health professional”.

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline on 131 114, or Beyond Blue’s coronavirus mental wellbeing support service on 1800 512 348.

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