Written by: kerriwalters
Wednesday, October 06, 2010 

We will continue to liaise with government regarding the potential for research to find a cure for severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and we will continue to argue that reducing the prevalence of mental health disorders will also lighten the burden on other resources put under pressure by untreated patients, such as police and hospitals.

But as far as I can tell, if we can’t mobilise community forces to show this is a major concern for parents, friends, educators, police and anyone who’s been touched by mental illness then our chances for seeing this project through to fruition are vastly reduced.

Queensland spends the least amount of money per capita on specialised mental health than any other state in Australia, yet it’s difficult to get the community to even see that as a motivator.

Sitting in this cube is incredibly interesting.  Witnessing all manner of people walking by and their immediate reactions to my spruiking of the need for more research into mental health is supremely intriguing.  Some are immediately compelled to purchase a $2 raffle ticket, others completely disinterested.  I’m not suggesting everyone should have a particular interest in mental health, but how are we going to convert more people to acknowledging the need for greater community involvement; to get them to stand up and be heard?

Many mental disorders are progressive.  Underlying brain changes become more and more difficult to treat over time, hence early diagnosis is paramount.  That’s why my focus this week is on youth mental health.  Through early diagnosis we can reduce the massive burden that mental illness creates in terms of healthcare costs, lost productivity and human suffering, ultimately ensuring patients can be contributing members of the community.

I’m certain community inertia also comes from people considering issues such as homelessness and drug addiction as “someone else’s problem” and not recognising that mental illness goes to the heart of these issues for many people.

Shadow Health Minister Mark McArdle showed the strongest support thus far today for our initiative in agreeing with many of the points I’ve made here, especially relating to reducing the strain on hospitals and other resources that deal with the fall-out of a current lack of focus on early intervention and initiatives to make sure young people stay in treatment.  He also made the point that as a community we can do more to reduce the number of youth suicides in this country, a topic we’re going to focus on “in the cube” on Friday.

At one point today I felt as though doing this may be in vain, however, I’m slowly becoming more optimistic that one by one people are taking notice and a groundswell may be on the horizon.

Tomorrow: the importance of research, what are the latest developments for mental health research

Trackback Print

Tags:

Categories:

Location: Blogs ClearThinking Cube Campout Blog

Your name:
Your email:
	(Optional) Email used only to show Gravatar.
Your website:
Title:
Comment:
Security Code Enter the code shown above in the box below
Add Comment   Cancel