Mental Wellbeing

Mental health is defined as ‘a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community’.1 Therefore, mental health is about being cognitively, emotionally and socially healthy.

This profile compares Wyndham with areas of Greater Melbourne and Victoria on determinants of mental wellbeing, including prevalence of depression and anxiety, social connection and access to psychological services.

All data refers to adults aged 18+ years unless otherwise stated.

Mental Health Image

Subjective wellbeing describes how a person feels about their life and is comprised of feelings contained in moods and emotions as well as thoughts and judgements.2 On a scale of 0 to 100, people with a high subjective wellbeing score are more mentally and physically healthy, more productive, more cooperative, more pro-social and charitable, have greater coping abilities, and live 4 to 10 years longer than people with low subjective wellbeing.

As shown in the graph below, Wyndham residents reported similar levels of subjective wellbeing to all Victorians in 2015. Wyndham's score decreased marginally between 2011 and 2015, while subjective wellbeing across all Victorians increased by half a point.

Subjective Wellbeing (range 0-100), 2011 and 2015.
Subjective wellbeing (range 0-100), Wyndham and Victoria 2011 and 20153

Factors such as social connection, cohesion and participation promote mental wellbeing and protect against mental illness. As shown in the graph below, more than 50% of Wyndham adults perceive their neighbourhoods as connected places. Compared to adults Victoria wide, proportionally fewer Wyndham adults perceive people as willing to help each other, their neighbourhoods are close-knit, and other people as trustworthy. Furthermore, 42% of Wyndham adults held low levels of support for equal relationships between women and men, compared to 36% of adults Victoria wide.

Mental Wellbeing Factors, 2015
Factors that affect mental wellbeing, Wyndham and Victoria 20154
Mental Health Image 2

Social Isolation

Social isolation refers to the absence of social contact and connection. The Victorian Population Health Survey derived a social isolation score by measuring social and civic trust as well as social support. A greater proportion of Wyndham adults were socially isolated (20%) when compared to adults Victoria wide (17%).

Social Isolation, 2014
Social isolation, Wyndham and Victoria 20145

Social Support

A similar proportion of adults in Wyndham, the North West Metropolitan area and Victoria were able to access help from family if needed. A slightly smaller proportion of Wyndham residents were not able to access help from friends (4%).

Social Support, 2014
Social support, Wyndham, North and West Metropolitan Melbourne and Victoria 20146
Social Isolation Image
Social Engagement Image

The data presented provides insight into how people feel about their life, and whether they can access help if needed.

In 2020, the residents of Wyndham have a higher self-rating of low to medium life satisfaction, lower self-rating for high satisfaction with life and a higher self-rating for very high satisfaction with life when compared to the Western Melbourne and Victoria.

Life satisfaction, Wyndham, Western Metropolitan Melbourne and Victoria 2020
Life satisfaction, Wyndham, Western Metropolitan Melbourne and Victoria 20207

The Australian Burden of Disease of Disease study 2015 has ranked Anxiety the disease with the third highest disease burden and Depression the seventh8. The World Health Organisation estimates that depression will be the number one health concern in both developed and developing nations by 2030.

In 2017, the prevalence of a person ever having a diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety in Wyndham adults (25.9%) was higher than adults living in Western Melbourne (25.0%) and lower compared to Victoria (27.4%). That is, at any one point in time one in four people in Wyndham will be going through a period of depression and/or anxiety. These two conditions are often comorbid, meaning they occur together at the same time. This intensifies the personal experience and can delay the person seeking help.

Psychological distress is measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). The K10 questionnaire was developed to yield a global measure of psychological distress, based on questions about people’s level of nervousness, agitation, psychological fatigue and depression in the past four weeks.10

It is quite normal for people to experience low to mild psychological distress in their lives. It is often in response to life events and is limited in duration. Where you start getting higher rates of distress, this can impede a person’s day-to-day life and lead to people experiencing periods of anxiety and depression.

Psychological Distress (K10), Wyndham and Victoria 2020
Psychological Distress (K10), Wyndham and Victoria 202011,12

The latest results show that males in Wyndham are seeking help for psychological problems more (14.8%) than the males across Western Melbourne (13.9%) and Victoria (14.1%). For females, there are higher rates of people seeking treatment (19.8%) than males, but this is below the proportion for state (21.2%). Overall, there is a higher proportion (18.0%) of people seeking professional help for mental health issues than the state (17.6%). However, the proportion of people seeking treatment is less than the proportion of people with a diagnosed condition (25.9%). Seeking help for mental health concerns is vitally important for ongoing health and wellbeing.

Sought professional help for a mental health related problem in the last 12 Months, Wyndham and Victoria 201713