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Self-harm and suicidal behavior in men could be up to three times higher than current estimates, worsening the mental health crisis in Australia.
A new study, supported by Beyond Blue and Movember, examined the nature and number of ambulance responses to men with mental health problems in most parts of the country.
The three-year study of Turning Point and Monash University, entitled Beyond urgency, found that every day, nationwide ambulances were responding to one of 82 cases of men who had attempted suicide or who had serious ideas in this regard.
Three times higher
This number is much higher than the national figures on suicides, which show that an average of six men commit suicide each day.
Between July 2015 and June 2016, ambulances attended more than 30,000 cases.
This is three times more than the existing data based on hospitalizations.
"What we know about suicide in men is only the visible part of the iceberg."
This is due to the fact that emergency services usually only record a reason for visiting a patient, which may not be related to mental health.
The study also found that the police attended one-third of the cases and that 60% of the cases involved alcohol and drugs.
"This research tells us that the number of men with suicides in our health services is multiplied by three when measured by ambulance data rather than by hospital data alone," said Julia. Gillard, president of Beyond Blue.
"It tells us that what we know about suicide in men is only the tip of the iceberg."
Major reform is needed
Georgie Harman, CEO of Beyond Blue, said the report underscored "the urgent need for system reform".
"In particular, we need to stop the revolving door of acute presentations to hospital emergency departments by valuing and investing more in community supports and alternative ways to deal with the immediate crisis."
Dan Lubman, a professor at Turning Point and at Monash University, who led the research project, said better options were needed for men in suicidal crisis.
"If they do not have life-threatening injuries, they should not be in the emergency department, but paramedics feel they have too few other alternatives," said Lubman. .
"Our paramedics need more support and people with serious mental health issues or who feel suicidal need better models of care."
"Our paramedics need more support and people with acute mental health issues … need better models of care."
But the report – which interviewed dozens of paramedics and 30 men who used an ambulance for mental health issues – highlighted the need for increased education of paramedics in charge of these cases.
According to the study, only 14% of paramedics reported having received comprehensive training in the treatment of patients with mental disorders.
Talk to patients
It was also revealed that two-thirds of paramedics were not confident that they could talk to patients about their needs.
The report, which examined ambulance records from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, recommended better training of paramedics.
"We need better options for men in suicidal crisis."
Associate Professor Tony Walker, Executive Director of Victoria Ambulance, acknowledged that the staff still had work to do.
An ambulance driver interviewed as part of the study, a 40-year-old man, felt that he had not received adequate training in mental health.
"We had very, very little undergraduate mental health training, and then we traveled around the world," he said.
"You know, you see in some areas that at least 10 to 15% of your jobs are related to mental health, or 20 … to drugs and alcohol."
Personal stigmas
Another paramedic, a 51-year-old man, said paramedics should receive refreshments.
The study also examined the personal stigma of paramedics related to mentally ill patients, which revealed that nearly 14% of paramedics had agreed not to befriend a man suffering from suicidal depression. .
As part of the research, some men praised the efforts of paramedics to communicate and keep them calm, but others did not feel the same.
"It was just that they were eager to get me into the van just to push me to shut me up, because obviously there are more important things," said a 35-year-old man.
"There could be someone who has a heart attack or someone who needs the ambulance more than me, because – as if it were self-inflicted. Was doing it myself. "
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