Overall 11.9% of Australians aged 16-85 years used health services for mental health problems in the previous 12 months. This includes both consultations with health professionals and hospital admissions. A similar proportion of the total population (11.6%) used medications for mental health problems in the previous two weeks prior to the survey.
The mental disorder status of service users is shown in figure 3-1. Of the population using services:
- Three–fifths (58.7%) of people who used services had a 12-month mental disorder
- One-fifth (19.8%) had a mental disorder at some point in their lifetime, but did not have symptoms in the previous 12 months and
- One-fifth (21.5%) did not meet lifetime diagnosis for any of the mental disorders assessed in the survey.
Figure 3-1: Proportion of people using services for mental health problems in the previous 12 months by mental disorder status
Text version of figure 3-1
Proportion of people using services for mental health problems in the previous 12 months by mental disorder status:- Mental disorder in the previous 12 months - 58.7%
- No mental disorder - 21.5%
- Lifetime mental disorder - 19.8%