Face of Nation International : The 19-year-old student was at university full-time, working part-time and spending her free time with her friends. Then came the social distancing measures, put in place to slow the spread of coronarvirus, and her life became unrecognisable, pretty much overnight.
Charlie’s university moved courses online. Her work shifts were cancelled. All her usual social activities were canned. “Last week was very rocky for me. I’m not really sleeping. I have been up until 2:00, 3:00, 4:00am every morning,” she says.She’s worried about money, how she will pay the bills and rent and she can see her social networks crumbing.
Charlie is also worried about her mental health, because like one if four young Australians she has had mental health challenges. “I have had some issues with mild anxiety and stress before. If things start to go downward, then I can really spiral,” she says.
Mental health impacts of coronavirus
Charlie’s story comes as no surprise to Patrick McGorry, one of Australia’s leading mental health experts, who warns young people’s mental health needs during the COVID-19 response require urgent attention. Professor McGorry, executive director of the youth mental health service Orygen, says in usual circumstances young people are at high risk for mental health issues.
“It’s the period of life where you get the biggest rise [in mental health issues]. In fact, 75 per cent of mental disorders appear by age 25. So, it’s the main health problem of that age group, by far. And the biggest cause of death is from suicide,” he says. “Now we’re going to see a lot of new episodes of mental health issues and mental illness appearing even in people that previously hadn’t experienced this.
He’s calling for a national mental health strategy in response to COVID-19, which operates in a similar way to how the state and territory chief health officers are working with the federal chief medical officer. “There’s got to be a central command post established for this because this is going to be a very significant. And also, not a brief thing. The mental health crisis will be severe and prolonged and it’s going to affect a very large number of people,” he says.
Professor McGorry also says there needs to be “a fairly significant injection of funds” to make a switch to online and digital mental health services to allow people to access the help they need while maintaining social distancing. (Source: ABC News – Australia)
