FERNWOOD FITNESS - PULSE eMagazine - Issue#14 - Flipbook - Page 29
WORLD
MENTAL
HEALTH
DAY
Mental health isn’t a
“nice-to-have”; it’s
health, full stop. In
Australia, about 1
in 5 people (21.5%)
experience a mental
disorder in any
given year, with
anxiety by far the
most common. Over
a lifetime, almost
43% of us will meet
criteria for a mental
disorder. Young
adults are feeling it
most: nearly 39% of
16–24-year-olds had a
12-month mental
health disorder in
2020–22.
Globally, the picture
is similar. The World
Health Organization
(WHO) estimates
around 1 in 8 people
(about 970 million)
live with a mental
health disorder,
and more than
720,000 people
die by suicide
each year.
Suicide is the
third leading
cause of
death among
15–29-year-olds
worldwide.
Mark your diary:
World Mental Health
Day 2025
World Mental Health
Day lands on 10
October 2025. This
year, the World
Federation for Mental
Health has set the
theme: “Access to
services – mental
health in catastrophes
and emergencies.”
It’s a timely call to
make mental health
support reachable when
people are dealing
with bush昀椀res, 昀氀oods,
pandemics, con昀氀ict or
displacement—times
when stress, trauma and
loss can spike sharply.
Why this matters
for Australia
Australia’s most
reliable snapshot (the
ABS National Study
of Mental Health and
Wellbeing) con昀椀rms
what many clinicians
and communities have
felt: anxiety rates are
high, help-seeking has
grown, and distress is
concentrated among
young people. In 2020–
22, 17.4% of Australians
saw a health professional
for their mental health
in the previous year;
this was higher among
women (21.6%) than men
(12.9%).
Women at a glance
• Women are more
likely than men
to experience a
12-month mental
disorder: 24.6% vs
18.3% (2020–22).
• The increase since
2007 has been
steeper for women
(from ~22% to ~25%).
• Anxiety disorders are
especially common
among women
(about 21% in a
12-month period),
while substance use
disorders are more
common among men.
These gaps don’t mean
men are “昀椀ne”—far
from it. Men carry a
higher risk of suicide
in Australia and often
under-utilise services,
which is why genderresponsive approaches
and easy access to care
matter for everyone.
What’s driving
the numbers?
The story is
multifactorial: cost-ofliving pressures, social
isolation, climaterelated events, and the
lingering impacts of
the pandemic all play a
part. The global burden
of mental disorders
remains among the
leading causes of years
lived with disability, and
WHO notes anxiety
and depression surged
during 2020. The
takeaway: demand is
up, and access to timely,
appropriate care is
critical—exactly the point
of this year’s theme.
