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How Living With Chronic Illness Can Impact our Mental Health

Issue 6 2019

"How Living With Chronic Illness Can Impact our Mental Health"

The statistics surrounding mental health in Australia demonstrate this is an issue that is starting to dominate the healthcare landscape more than ever. Which is why, Bastion Brands have been making it a priority to build an in-depth understanding of this space.

One in five Australians will suffer from a mental illness. The significant efforts of charities, advocacy groups and disease awareness campaigns have slowly been working to reverse the stigma associated with depression and anxiety. It has also lead to more patients seeking and receiving the help they need. In fact, the RACGP report, Health of the Nation, 2018 found that GP’s are treating mental health issues more than any other.

So, why should we stop and take note? Because another fact suggests that patients being treated for long term physical conditions are more and more feeling the impact on their mental health as well.

The Australian Government released a report into the comorbidity of mental disorders and physical conditions in 2012, which found that 12% of Australians aged 16-85 had a mental disorder and a physical condition at the same time. Indeed, the most common comorbidity was anxiety disorder combined with a physical condition which affected around 9% of the population.


Understanding the prevalence of the link between certain chronic health conditions and mental illness is more important than ever as patient centricity begins to dominate our approach to health communications. Putting the patient at the heart of what we do requires us to truly understand the whole of the patient.

More and more of the work we’re undertaking at Bastion Brands with our clients puts a focus on the patient and draws insight from the challenges they face as a result of their disease burden. Bringing this to life for healthcare professionals through innovative medical content is something we are fast becoming experts at.

To this end, we are now taking our passion further, attending industry events to absorb the latest information and best practice in this area and understand how technology is playing a bigger role than ever in closing the gaps found in patient care, especially those managing a mental illness. Such as the images captured at the recent ‘Designing for Better Mental Health’ event (pictured below).

It is also why Bastion Brands has begun a long-term partnership with One in Five, a volunteer organisation established in 2002 to fund medical research into mental illness, whose ultimate aim is to create a world where mental illnesses are understood, effectively treated and one day made preventable – together we hope to see One in Five become None in Five.

We look forward to sharing the impactful work we are creating in the space that without a doubt brings to life our agency philosophy ‘where Science & Emotion collide’ and our passion to create seriously life-changing work.

In the meantime, if you are considering how best to ensure your marketing efforts are making a truly life-changing impact to healthcare professionals and their patients, then get in touch to find out how the power of Science and Emotion can help.

JOIN THE TEAM

We are always interested in hearing from great people dedicated to making a career in pharmaceutical communications. If you’re ready to make a positive impact with Bastion Brands, get in touch today.