Education, health, housing and entertainment have never been so good, yet people have never felt so bad.
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Greater Western Area Health Service director of mental health services Dr Russell Roberts said Mental Health Week from October 4 to 10 was a time to raise awareness of the importance of looking after mental health in the same way as physical health.
Dr Roberts said the increasing rate of depression was a huge health challenge.
“For some people mental illness is simply a chemical imbalance. For others, it’s about putting some balance back into their lives,” he said.
“Depression has been increasing every generation since we’ve been measuring it reliably, which is since 1905. No one is exactly sure why that is. We think there’s a lot more pressure on people, a lot less family support and higher expectations.”
Mental Health Week started in Orange with a community concert on Saturday night, featuring performers from the Orange Arts, Health and Wellbeing project.
Dr Roberts said Orange’s Mental Health Week events would focus on being connected with the community, with another concert and family barbecue to be held at Bloomfield on Sunday.
With 20 per cent of people experiencing some form of mental illness in their lifetime, Dr Roberts said the 2009 Mental Health Week theme of Building Resilience was about growing people’s capacity to deal with mental illness.
“It’s just like general health - it’s different for every person. Some people need to pay attention to stressing less, some need to pay attention to family relationships, or develop self-esteem. Investing in relationships is like putting money in the bank. If you haven’t put in, there’s nothing to withdraw when you need it,” he said.
