According to health experts Ipswich residents need to look out for the mental health of friends and family with the effects of January’s floods still weighing on many people. The Australian Medical Association of Queensland (AMAQ) launched the ‘See the Signs’ awareness campaign this week to help people spot symptoms of mental health issues like depression.
According to a latest AMAQ survey, 31% of Ipswich residents were very concerned about the mental health of family and friends following the floods, but only 6% said it was easy to tell if someone was experiencing difficulties. Only 22% said, if they felt they weren’t coping, they’d battle on and keep it to themselves.
According AMAQ president Dr Gino Pecoraro, keeping to oneself is the worst possible course of action a person with a mental illness can take. He said the survey also found about 60% of doctors had seen or expected to see a spike in mental health cases. “The aim of this initiative is to help Queenslanders, including Ipswich residents, tell if someone isn’t coping by providing a practical checklist of common symptoms…We also want to make sure people know their GP is there to help,” Dr Pecoraro said. He explained that immediately after big disasters, it was common for people to show “emotional numbing” or to appear to be in a daze, but this could be a problem if it lasts longer than five days. He noted that single parents and children between eight and 15 years of age are considered most at risk following a natural disaster, while girls, women, small business owners, rescue workers, volunteers and ethnic minorities are at greater risk of developing a post-traumatic stress disorder. He said middle-aged men, especially in rural and regional areas, were less likely to seek help for mental health issues.
“A change in energy levels, getting easily upset, not performing as well at work, having difficulty sleeping or struggling with nightmares, withdrawing from social situations and not interacting with family or loved ones,” he said were classic symptoms. Change in sleep patterns with recurrent nightmares, excessive tearfulness or fragility, drug or alcohol abuse, social withdrawal, decrease in concentration and increasing irritability are some warning signs. Those people should be encouraged to seek help from their doctor.
Lifeline Community Recovery Manager Richard Johnson said mental health problems could have a “creeping up effect” after a disaster. “There is no doubt people are experiencing grief at all levels in disaster-affected areas…Grief is an individual thing and the loss that people experience is many and varied and it will affect people in different ways…,” he said.
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