Economics of mental health

Mental health conditions affect one in five Australians each year and are a leading cause of disability and reduced wellbeing, impacting people's mental, physical and social health throughout their lives.

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Mental health problems are a leading cause of disability, loss of wellbeing, and premature mortality. One in eight people worldwide live with a mental health condition, almost half of all Australians over 16 years of age will experience a mental illness during their life, around 1 in 5 experience mental health problems each year, and suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-29 year-olds. These disorders affect the person’s thoughts, emotions, behaviour, relationships, and perceptions and include depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, addiction, and developmental disorders. As well as the psychological effects, people with mental illness often experience wider issues, in areas such as relationships, employment, and physical health, with lower life expectancy mostly related to preventable physical health problems.

Aim and objectives

Aim To bring together health economists working on issues in mental health including services, policy, outcomes, and determinants.

Objectives

Build capacity in health economics addressing mental health
Raise the profile of health economists to contribute to policy and practice relating to mental health
Develop a mutually supportive and collaborative network of health economists involved in mental health research
Provide opportunities for mentoring and advice regarding issues specific to mental health and with a particular focus on early career academics and students

Activity plan

Sharing information electronically about papers, methods workshops, conferences.
Hold a meeting at AHES 2022 to establish desired outcomes and activities of the group
Regular Zoom meet ups, frequency TBA (including, work-in-progress presentations, methods sharing and small group networking)
Engage with relevant health policy community consultation processes as a group (optional)
Establish a database of health economists in researching in this field (optional)
Organised session for IHEA (optional)