As Australians used their vote to call for a safer climate, a new report out today from medical group Doctors for the Environment Australia shows the serious and wide-reaching impacts climate change is having on mental health in Australia, with kids and young people among those most at risk.
The report shows a growing body of evidence of mental ill-health from climate change impacts in Australia has grown in the past three-and-a-half years, with most Australians having now experienced one or more extreme weather events such as hotter temperatures, bushfires, storms, floods and drought, made worse by the burning of fossil fuels like gas and coal.
Doctors for the Environment Australia is urging the new Albanese Government to consider the cost to health and substantially increase resourcing to meet the escalating mental health impacts from worsening extreme weather.
Key findings:
Almost half of Australians are expected to experience a mental illness at some point in their life, with costs estimated to exceed $190 billion per year.
High temperatures alone already account for 1.8% of the annual burden of mental and behavioural disorders in Australia, and is projected to increase by over 10% in the 2030s and between 28-49% in the 2050s.
Hot weather and heat waves are associated with increases in Emergency presentations with suicidal thoughts and behaviour, physical and sexual assaults and with domestic violence, as well as poorer learning for children.
The awareness of the unfolding threat of climate change can in itself have mental health impacts. Responses commonly include feelings of anxiety, grief, hopelessness, frustration and anger.
Physical health impacts of climate change include increases in a range of conditions such as heart disease, stroke and worsening of neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis. These physical illnesses in turn, raise rates of mental disorders - with depression affecting 20-30% of people with heart disease and strokes.
The mental health impacts of climate change are placing increased strain on Australia's health system, which is already under pressure.
Australians must take action to reduce future extreme weather by rapidly reducing carbon emissions.
DEA spokesperson and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr Cybele Dey said: "The federal election results have shown that climate concern has remained high.
"Climate change is taking a toll on our mental health, with hot weather accounting for 1.8% of mental ill-health, costing Australians over $3 billion per year. The Albanese government has the opportunity to to prioritise climate action to protect the health of Australians during its historic second term.
While all Australians are impacted, children and young people are at particular risk of mental health impacts. Of the five leading causes of the burden of disease among Australian children (5-14 years), four are mental or neuro-developmental disorders. The other, asthma, is associated with higher rates of anxiety disorder. All five of these are increased by the impacts of climate change.
"As a child psychiatrist, I see that more and more children and teenagers are experiencing mental disorders made worse by climate driven extreme weather," Dr Dey said. "In the Emergency Department, so many young people are needing help with serious mental distress including suicidal thoughts as temperatures rise.
"It is heart-breaking that these recognised mental health harms aren't even considered in Australian government decision-making about fossil fuel projects that are driving climate change.
"The new government has the chance to leave a profound legacy. By reducing future harms to mental health by rapidly transitioning away from fossil oil, coal and gas, whilst simultaneously addressing current mental health workforce shortages, and planning for future increased mental health needs. Australian voters have spoken, now it's over to Albanese.''
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