Getting Help Early: Why is it important?

You probably know the difficulties that can happen if you have a mental illness. It can potentially interrupt your study, work, social life and perhaps worst of all, your relationships with family and friends. 

There is a lot of research about what works for young people who experience a mental illness or substance use issue.  Research has found that Getting help early - or as they call it, early intervention, makes a significance difference to how quickly and how well someone recovers. Basically it means that getting help when early signs of a mental health problems begin is likely to lead to the best outcomes for the young person.  Below is more information about what research says about early intervention.  

It’s important to get help early

Australian researchers have studied a number of mental health issues that affect young people, including depression, substance use, psychosis, bipolar disorder and personality. This research shows that getting help early, or early intervention, is crucial.

Early intervention means finding and using appropriate mental heath services in the local community. This could be a GP, counsellor, public mental health service or a local welfare team.

Getting help early can have lots of benefits. 

• Early intervention enables young people to start treatment as soon as possible, when the symptoms of mental illness are not too disabling, and ideally, before the young person experiences any associated problems, such as difficulties concentrating at school or work. 
• Early intervention helps young people to develop or build on the skills they need to manage their illness and continue functioning in other aspects of their lives (eg. with work, school, family or friends). For example, people with depression might use cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) which is based on the idea that moods/emotions are related to our thoughts and it explores thinking patterns and how they can affect our emotions, such as fear, in a negative and positive way, to prevent future episodes of feeling depressed or anxious and out of control. 
• Early intervention focuses on the care of the whole person, rather than just treating symptoms. By working with young people to prevent the problems associated with mental illness other helpful supports can be put in place, such as school or employment support 
• Finally, early intervention saves money. By preventing problems associated with mental illness – or at least catching them early before too much damage occurs - young people don’t have to use health services for longer than they need to 

Why don't young people ask for help?

Research shows 75% of mental health disorders begin before the age of 25 years. But 70% of young people who experience mental health and substance use problems don’t seek help. This is especially the case for males, indigenous people and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Other reasons why young people do not seek help include:

• They are experiencing symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts;
• Have a negative view about seeking help;
• Have had a negative experience with sources of help in the past, or
• Believe that they don’t need anyone else’s help.

What encourages young people to seek help?

• Having information about mental health issues and where you can get help
• Having people around them encouraging them to get help

Young people are also more likely to seek help if they feel able to express their feelings – they need to feel confident to talk about what they’re going through. And that often means building a trusting relationship with people who can help. Younger adolescents are more likely to talk with their family, while friends and partners become more influential later on.
There are different ways to learn about these things – from media campaigns, from websites like headspace and Reach Out! and from smaller local programs targeted at young people and their supporters.

Where is help available?

Young people with emerging mental health or substance use problems can also access professional help from GPs, youth workers or school counsellors. For serious forms of mental illness like psychosis, major depression and suicidal thinking, mental health specialists (like psychologists or psychiatrists) can also be an important source of help. Young people can get access to mental health specialists through GPs who can provide a referral (eg. a letter for specialist help).

We need a better way to support young people

It is important to correctly diagnose a mental illness for two reasons. Firstly, the correct diagnosis guides what the treatment should be and, secondly, it helps to predict what the outcomes might be.

Correctly diagnosing mental illness in young people can be difficult. This is because symptoms are emerging in the context of normal development, so figuring out what is a normal change in mood, or stress associated with a difficult situation, from the early signs of mental disorder can be difficult. This is why it is important to ask a mental health professional for support and advice when it comes to finding the right sort of help.