Youth Mental Health in Australia: A Story Through Hospital Separations
Sahana Ramamurthy
2025-06-11
Introduction - Why focus on youth mental health?
- As a young person, I’ve seen how mental health challenges often remain hidden behind smiles, silence, or stress.
- Whether it’s the pressure to succeed, social isolation, or emotional fatigue, many in my generation struggle without support — until the situation becomes serious enough for hospital care.
- This project explores hospital separation data for Australians aged 15–24 to understand the real impact of mood and anxiety disorders.
- Each number in the dataset represents a life interrupted, a moment of crisis. By sharing these trends visually, I hope to start conversations and highlight where support is most urgently needed.
About the Data
- Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
- Dataset: Principal Diagnosis Data Cube 2022–23
- Population: Australians aged 15–24
- Diagnosis codes: F32, F33, F34, F38, F39, F41
- Variables: Age group, sex, diagnosis, separations
The data includes hospital separations for principal diagnoses related to mental and behavioural disorders. It has been filtered for Australians aged 15–24, providing a snapshot of youth mental health demand across the country.
Mood Disorders by Gender
Anxiety Disorders by Age and Gender
Gender Comparison (Pie Chart)
Age Group Trend (Line Plot)
Personal Reflection
- As a student and young adult, I’ve seen how mental health challenges can quietly affect those around me.
- These hospital separation numbers are not just statistics — they represent real struggles faced by people in my age group.
- By visualising this data, I realised how gender and age create different mental health experiences, especially how young women seem disproportionately affected.
Key Observations
- Mood disorders (F34–F39) show significantly higher separations for females, especially for F34 and F39.
- Anxiety-related separations (F41) increase sharply from 15–19 to 20–24 years of age.
- Overall, females account for nearly 70% of youth mental health-related hospitalisations.
- A small portion of data had unspecified gender or age — a possible area for improved data quality.
What Can Be Done?
- Strengthen school and university counselling services for early intervention.
- Promote public awareness campaigns that normalise seeking help for mental health.
- Develop gender-sensitive programs to address the higher risk observed in young females.
- Improve hospital record-keeping to reduce “NA” entries in demographic categories.
References
- Data tables - Mental health - AIHW. (n.d.). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/resources/data-tables
- Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release
- Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023). National survey of mental health and wellbeing. Australian Bureau of Statistics. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release
- Headspace. (2024). Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation. Headspace.org.au. https://headspace.org.au
Thank You
- Prepared by: Sahana Ramamurthy
- Presented with:
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