High SA mental distress rates.

Report highlights high SA mental distress rates. :

"'South Australia and I think it's probably true, has been said...to be several years behind the other states and certainly is long way behind say New Zealand in the way it organises its services,' he said."

If we have the nation's highest average of psychological distress, then what are they alluding to, how does it manifest itself and how do they observe and measure it. How are these figures arrived at? If 14% of people over the age of 18 are reported to have high to very high levels of distress in SA then what is contributing to the distress in SA? Do we have conditions that create more stress than the other states? Are we less resilient and therefore more prone to psychological distress? Are our children mollycoddled and then become stressed as a result of having to take on adult responsibilities? Are the community expectations too high? Are we short of vitamin B, don't take as much valium as other states? What is this article about?

We do need more and better services because some have been shut down, some have been rationalised and for a while there was a belief it was better to integrate mentally ill people into the community and as it turned out, we have discovered it puts more strain on them and more strain on the familes and community. We tried. We were trying to get rid of the stigma associated with mental illness and we were thinking it might "normalise" people better if they were not institutionalised. We actually have learnt a lot from that but it means services we now realise we need will have to be put back it place. We do have some excellent mental health workers out there but they are stretched to the limit and there hasn't been a way of easily bringing in and inservicing new ones because the system is strained. I really should like to see more detailed figures comparing us with other states. It is easier to become and remain depressed here because Adelaide keeps itself to itself and that can be a good thing, but not if you are on a downer and need a bit of cheeriness. I guess in Adelaide you make the first move to be cheery and people will fall in, otherwise they think it's a bit rude just to foist themselves upon you. In a bigger city or a village set up you are always bumping into people. It's not like that here.