The coronavirus pandemic is driving up stress, anxiety and depression among those bearing the brunt of caring responsibilities.
Victorian women are seeking mental health support at record levels as the coronavirus pandemic drives up stress, anxiety and depression among those bearing the brunt of caring responsibilities.
The professor of psychiatry at Monash University said the clinic was also treating a growing number of patients with self-harm injuries and an increasing cohort of women who had not experienced mental health issues before the COVID-19 pandemic.The pyschological consequences of social isolation, the stress of home schooling on-top of other duties such as caring for elderly relatives, and the economic stress of the pandemic were all contributing factors, Professor Kulkarni said.
In August to mid-September, the service noted more than half of those calls were from new or first-time callers.Concerns raised with the service included despair due to isolation, hospital discharges of psychiatric patients despite fears they remained a self-harm or suicide risk, and carers reporting increasing challenges in looking after people with complex needs.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Monday that officers were responding to soaring numbers of mental health callouts.Cracks in Victoria's healthcare system were exposed last week after a 32-year-old man in the grips of a mental health episode presented at Northern Hospital's emergency department in Epping and waited more than 19 hours to be admitted.
Professor Kulkarni said the incidents involving police were the "tip of the iceberg". "There are many, many other sufferers," she said. "There is a larger proportion of people that are significantly and quietly struggling." Women's Health Victoria chief executive Dianne Hill said the COVID-19 pandemic had intensified gendered social and economic inequalities, including the over-representation of women in insecure employment.
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