Although I didn’t know what it was, my first recollection of having some type of condition that affected my ability to properly function in the morning was as a 12-year-old. This now makes perfect sense considering about 75% first manifest between early adolescence and 25.
I would feel very negative, lacked confidence and just wanted to stay within myself and this would be the case for the first few hours of my day. As I got older, the dark clouds would take longer to clear.
For more than four decades I lived with this and did not seek help. Instead I employed various bizarre techniques to try and get myself going. For example, when driving to work, I’d stop a few times, stare at the sun to make myself sneeze, as this would release endorphins and give me a lift.
Back then the stigma attached to mental illness was greater, and in men I think it was considered a sign of character weakness. This definitely served as a deterrent to seeking help.
I finally decided to confront my condition, which over the years I came to accept was an underlying depressive disorder. I was fortunate to be in a position to be able to turn to my friend Jeff Kennett for assistance. He put me in touch with a top-notch mental health specialist.
It was discovered that I release serotonin, the hormone that helps you start the day in good shape, a few hours later than most others. Following six months of experimentation with different medications, I struck gold. But others aren’t so lucky.
The coalition’s wonderful commitment to invest $1.5 billion into front-line mental health services, is as Professor John Mendoza said, “a game changer”. In many ways mental health is the forgotten area of health and it is certainly a glaring omission in the Gillard government’s health plan.
The coalition’s package is specifically targeted, evidence-based policy and places a particular emphasis on the many thousands of young Australians affected by a mental health condition. About 20%-25% of young people aged 12-17 and 25%-40% of those aged 18-24 are afflicted.
Across the country a coalition government led by Tony Abbott will deliver 20 new early psychosis prevention and intervention centres (EPPIC), including 800 acute and sub-acute early intervention beds. This model was pioneered in Australia by Professor Patrick McGorry, the present Australian of the Year.
In addition, 60 additional youth headspace centres will be established, taking the number from 30 to 90. These centres provide a range of mental and health well-being support to young people aged 12-25 and their families.
I am now determined to do whatever I can to raise awareness and encourage people to seek help, which is crucial considering about four million Australians live with a mental illness without getting help .
It is certainly worth it because over the past 14 weeks and at age 58, my mornings have been better than any I have experienced throughout my life.
What a pity Mr Robb turned what was an interesting and informative article into a commercial for the Coalition. Old habits die hard eh Andrew? Still you (the Coalition) need all the help that’s available I guess. Not sure this approach will help your cause though. Pleased you are over your illness.
Glad to hear that Mr Robb has found the right medication, and was able to access “top-notch” mental health services. Not many Australians get to do this, and some acute and early intervention beds won’t help them.
Since, as David rightly points out, the piece doesn’t avoid the politics, while any extra funding to mental health is welcome, I can’t help wondering at the mental health impacts of some of the Coalition’s policies, such as Work Choices, stripping welfare, no action on climate change, and what would have been the absence of any action to avert the GFC. Losing employment, losing homes through mortgage defaults, getting sick and not being able to pay the bills – all pretty depressing stuff.
Suggest the Coalition takes a broader approach to mental health, or it just looks like you’re exploiting the issue (and your illness, Mr Robb) for political gain.
Yes Andrew Robb, you were lucky to know Jeff Kennett – – – but I can’t help wondering where the health professionals will come from for your 200 new centres. It takes around 10 years to train a psychiatrist – starting today …
and more than 5 years to train a psychiatric nurse…
It sounds good but how will your idea actually work?
JC
As someone who experienced cyclothymia I admire Andrew’s courage and honesty for speaking out. Yes, a pity about the politics, particularly as it didn’t occur when Andrew and Neil Mitchell conversed about this on 3 AW (Thursday 1/7 between 9 and 10 am). Still the more people who speak up the better.
This is an issue which I feel very strongly about as I work in the mental health industry, albeit in a private clinic setting. The Howard government put through legislation in 2006 which allowed GPs (with the correct additional training) to put patients on a mental health plan (“Better Access to Mental Health Care”) which allows a portion of the session fee to be refunded through Medicare. Since then I believe the initial $1 billion allocated for the initiative has blown out by many times that. We see a lot of people come through this office on plans. Many of them are professionals such as barristers and merchant bankers on very high salaries. It is particularly galling when they are referred to a clinical psychologist and thus are able to claim the higher rebate of $117.65 per session. Although our session prices are quite high at $170 we have high overheads (being in the Sydney CBD) yet these people are literally paying $52.35 per session and being subsidised by the rest of us. One particular rort is when couples come in for relationship issues and realise that they don’t qualify for a plan, so one goes off and gets a generalised Anxiety disorder diagnosis from their GP and comes back for counselling with partner, fully subsidised. The belief of many psychologists here at least, is that there should be means testing applied to the plan (Item 2710), such as the one proposed for the private health insurance rebate, and perhaps increase the rebate for those who genuinely cannot afford even the gap payment (normal psychologists only qualify for a rebate of $80.25). Most young people with mental health issues usually fall into this category. By removing the leaches who rort the system and making it a little bit harder to get a plan than just booking a longer consult with your GP, enough savings would be made to fund a hell of a lot of treatment without needing to allocate extra money. As with a lot of legislation pushed through in a hurried manner (think first home buyers grant, insulation schemes etc – both the major parties have been guilty of this) unintended consequences often happen. The vast amounts of money which could have been used to directly address the chronic mental health issues of many disadvantaged people of all ages instead have been used to line the pockets of the ‘worried well’ who could easily have paid for their own self-improvement.