Exploring Mental Health Challenges in Australia: A Nursing Focus

This essay examines the critical issue of mental health in Australia, focusing on depression as a particularly significant problem. The essay explores how depression manifests itself, drawing on scholarly literature to analyze its causes, prevalence, and impact on individuals, families, and society. It highlights the role of anxiety and substance misuse in contributing to depression, particularly within the nursing profession, where high stress and work-life imbalances can exacerbate mental health challenges. The essay suggests strategies to address depression, including improved healthcare benefits, mental health awareness programs, and better diagnosis and treatment options. The essay uses scholarly sources, including journal articles and reports, to support its arguments and provides a nursing perspective. The essay emphasizes the need for policy changes to combat depression and promote better mental health outcomes in Australia.

Choose ONE mental health
issue and clearly explain why
you think it is a particularly
significant problem in
Australia Explain how this
mental health

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Mental illness is very common in which depression refers to one of the most common mental
illness which is generally caused due to anxiety disorder which leads to develop depression.
There is also chance of getting depression due to misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Depression
is one of the most common mental illness within Australia through which epidemic in country.
This is highly associated with due to create of anxiety and misuse of drugs or high use of alcohol
consumption that could lead to create the depression within any person. Healthcare professional
generally nursing professionals who are there dealing with such patient with depression and also
causing depression within themselves due to many factors (Appelhof, (2019)).
MAIN BODY
In Australia, there are many people who are continuously suffering from mental illness
which lead to create depression. This is the one which has different cause like biological,
cognitive, co-occurrence medication situation and different. There are about 20% of Australian
who are suffering from depression within mental illness. Depression is one of the mental
disorder through which about one in five of Australian are suffering. This create impact on their
livelihood and impact the society and family member. This is a significant disease which are
generally cause in the Australian people which is due to different mental disorder or mental
illness. Anxiety is one of the main cause due to which people are getting mental illness and lead
to create depression (Kim, (2019)).
Depression has lifetime prevalence which creates one in five Australian are able to
experience the depression with in their lifetime. This is the third globally burden of disease
which impact mental illness and leads to financial cost, morbidity and mortality. It also
expressed as number of years of life lost due to ill health. List of significant impact on human
life for patient it is an emphatic disability within Australia. World Health Organization has
estimated that depression is a number one health condition in developing and developed nation.
There is a high impact of depression over the nurses related with nursing professional.
There are many factors which have directly impacted the individuals mental health. This can lead
to create a depression which is a normal part of a nurse and nursing profession, Nurses generally
offer such type of challenges is experience by them and leads to depression. There are different
causes which can lead to create depression within nursing professional. There are some of the
causes such as high stress situation, finding work life balance, theory of causing patient harm,

toxic workplace culture. These are some of the factors which lead to create depression within
nursing professionals. During high stress situation, nurses are not able to handle the situation on
daily basis. They forced to take quick action and decision which could affect the life and death
for a patient. This high impact on mental status and leads to induced depression within them. It
leads to create a high stress and create depression within them. Nursing staff are not able to
maintain their work-life balance. Due to long hour of working and due to changing in shift
schedules create a difficulty in balance in eating and sleeping and their day off. They need extra
time for focusing on themselves and their family which is highly challenging and leads to create
difficulty in finding work life balance. This lead to create anxiety and depression within nursing
professionals (Kalin, (2020)).
Toxic workplace leads to create a difficulty in carrying work performance and leads to
foster violence which is due to feeling of failure are not able to deliver effective health care
services. This create tension and leads to higher stress involvement with in work workplace. This
lead to create the pressure within them. Such like that, there are many causes which can lead to
create a depression within nursing staff which is related with mental illness. In relation to this,
there is a need to make some policy which can help in positive way for over come through the
preparation and reduce the cases of mental illness within Australia. Here, is need to address
depression is a mental illness within person. There is need to use antidepressant for initial
treatment of depression. This can help at initial stage to the person. In Australia, there is a need
to fight against depression is only possible by providing better health benefit to person to fight
against depression. There is also need to make some policy which can be helpful for a person
was suffering with depression. There is a need to get the cause of depression which is leading
towards mental illness (Ionescu, (2019)). There is also need to better deal with anxiety which is
one of the main cause of getting depression as a mental health. Australia need to provider better
awareness programme regarding with mental health. There is a need to associate with nursing
staff that can easily able to communicate with many person and people for providing awareness
regarding mental health. Mental health are highly applicable for improved health awareness
regarding mental health. This can lead to decrease the chances of getting depression as a mental
illness. This can be highly helpful in reducing and minimizing the depression as a mental illness.
There is also need to provide better diagnosis and treatment for the people that can lead to create

better impact on mental illness and lead to minimize this disorder within Australia (Davidson,
(2018)).
CONCLUSION
From above discussion, it can be concluded that depression is a one of the type of mental
illness which have high impact on Australia. Depression have the high impact on mental health
and leads to create mental illness. Nursing staffs are highly effected due to anxiety and leads to
depression. This is the epidemic which is able to create all over the world and highly affecting
Australia. In this report, there is discussion about depression and its creating the causes for
depression which is leading mental illness, within nursing staff and professionals.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Appelhof, (2019). Effects of a multidisciplinary intervention on the presence of neuropsychiatric
symptoms and psychotropic drug use in nursing home residents withyoung-onset
dementia: Behavior and Evolution of Young-Onset Dementia Part 2 (BEYOND-II)
Study. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27(6), 581-589.
Davidson, (2018). Suicide prevention: a healer education and referral program for nurses. JONA:
The Journal of Nursing Administration, 48(2), 85-92.
Ionescu, (2019). Repeat-dose ketamine augmentation for treatment-resistant depression with
chronic suicidal ideation: a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Journal of
affective disorders, 243, 516-524.
Kalin, (2020). Rapid implementation of telehealth in hospital psychiatry in response to COVID-
19. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(7), 636-637.
Kim, (2019). Factors influencing depression: comparison between elders living alone and elders
not living alone. Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing, 21(2), 51-60.