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1 in 4 Kiwis considered suicide or self harm in past year - survey

November 23, 2022
Mental health.

One in four New Zealanders have "seriously considered" suicide or self-hurt in the last year, according to a new survey.

Ipsos surveyed more than 20,000 people across 30 countries, including 1000 Kiwis aged 18 and over.

The study showed three quarters of young people in New Zealand aged 18-34 have felt stressed to the point that is has impacted on their daily life and made them feel unable to cope, with 40% saying that they have seriously considered suicide or self-harm in the last year.

It also showed young people and those under the age of 50 are more likely to think about their mental health compared to this time last year and more often than the global average.

Worries about personal finances is now considered to be the biggest impact on New Zealanders' mental wellbeing which Ipsos say could be due to the increased cost of living.

It comes as new research found levels of distress and depression have risen for all Kiwis under 50.

Ipsos's Carin Hercock said it's "shocking" to see around a third of New Zealanders had been so stressed they felt they couldn't cope several times in the last year.

"Our report shows that mental health is much more likely to be an issue for younger New Zealanders, but one positive is that the young are also more likely to talk to friends and family about their mental health issues and concerns and to have received professional help."

The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) says the survey results are "a massive wake-up call" for all politicians.

"For decades politicians have failed the mental health of the people of New Zealand, and they continue to fail. New Zealand's approach to mental health is not working," MHF chief executive Shaun Robinson says.

Where to get help.

He said these results should be "jolting" leaders into a national response on the scale of Covid-19.

"We have a crisis in young people's mental health in particular."

Robinson said: "Governments already know about this crisis through research like Youth19. Our politicians and health leaders should have taken decisive action years ago. They did not."

He says long wait times and mental health "down the priority list" often mean people can't get the professional help they need.

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