Almost half of Australian women suffer from anxiety or depression, and many women don’t feel comfortable discussing their issues with their doctors, a new study has found.
A national survey of more than 15,000 women across Australia, conducted by not-for-profit organisation Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, also found that one in four women said they couldn’t afford to go to their preferred GP.
Of the 15,262 respondents, 46.1 per cent indicated they had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety by a doctor or psychologist.
Almost 67 per reported feeling nervous, anxious or on edge nearly every day, or on more than seven days in the past month.
The survey found 34 per cent of women surveyed reported not getting time to themselves on a weekly basis.
“It can be really difficult, mental and emotional health is really important to protect,” Jean Hailes' head of education Chris Enright said.
“Our survey reflects that women worry about their health, particularly their weight, and getting enough time to themselves just to unwind, and 9.5 per cent of women drink alcohol every day.”
The survey also found women struggled to juggle work, family, parents and other responsibilities, which contributed to anxiety-related issues.
“Anecdotally we hear more and more about the ‘sandwich generation’ of women, who are trying to juggle busy careers with kids and ageing parents,” Ms Enright said.
Registered nurse and mother-of-two Louise*, 49, of St Kilda, said she - like many women - had been juggling competing responsibilities for many years.
While her children were young she was doing shift work, and was often on call .
"After 20 years of juggling, you do get pretty tired," she said.
Now that her kids are grown up, she's had more time to invest in her own health.
"I don’t look at how it would have been otherwise, you just deal with things as they come along and deal with the situation you have at the time to make things work,"
"You can feel overwhelmed by the drudgery, if life is all working and parenting and family commitments, it's exhausting."
She said most of the time she would be last person on her list of priorities.
"There's that order of priority: first order would have been my children, then work and husband and then parents," she said.
"This list of things you need to tend to, you can't always keep all those balls in the air. Certainly you don't prioritise yourself, you prioritise those other things."
Louise joined personal training group Step into Life seven years ago, after thinking carefully about some of the patients she treated.
"I was in my early 40s and I was in a role at work as a nurse and I saw patients having planned heart and lung surgery, and in some of those patients it was lifestyle factors that were impacting on some of them," she said.
She said had heard patients say too many times, "I never thought this would happen to me".
"It occurred to me [when] I was in my early 40s, if I didn't make a decision to commit to a lifestyle change that would be me in 20 years time."
She said women need to be kind to themselves and not have unreasonable expectations.
"Not to be able to do everything for everyone all the time, sometimes that's not possible. Sometimes when you are playing the juggle, sometimes you are going to have to say 'I can’t quite do that', or 'I can’t do that now'. You have to be able to say no," she said.
"Even if that means you get five minutes to yourself, in that being kind to yourself, being emotionally kind to yourself, that you don’t have to be perfect either."
Brunswick 26-year-old Lily Kemp says she avoids going to her preferred GP because she sometimes can't afford to.
Ms Enright said more research was needed on accessibility to health services, and suggested that some women who thought they could not afford to see their preferred doctor may not know they can access bulk-billing.
“The core of women’s health week is about putting women first, there’s a link there with prioritising your own health,” she said.
Brunswick fashion designer Lily Kemp, 26, said she had two doctors, "a lovely female doctor" she went to when she could afford it, and another bulk billing doctor she visited if she had to.
"I definitely feel like I avoid going to the doctors because I cannot afford to go to a doctor I feel fits me," she said.
She said she had been unwell for several weeks but only went to a GP because she was about to travel overseas.
"Even with my current infection — I have had it for four weeks and haven't really been able to have solid food. If I wasn't going overseas next week I wonder if I ever would have gone in at all. Things have to get to a pretty bad point before I go [to the doctor].
"My heart sinks when I am given several prescriptions — knowing how much it will add up to in the chemist."
Ms Enright said it was important women could trust their doctors and not feel they had to hide things from them.
*Louise declined to give her last name.
Nicole Precel is a video journalist and reporter at The Age. She is also a documentary maker.