Mental illness treatment ‘lagging in N.Z.’

Press, 25 August 1979, Page 21

Mental illness treatment ‘lagging in N.Z.’

Inadequate facilities and specialists for treating mental illness, and not the recent violent gang clashes, was the most troublesome social issue confronting New Zealand, an American psychologist has said in Christchurch.

Violence had commanded a great deal of news media attention lately, and New Zealanders had become “quite properly concerned”, but the violence was much less than in other countries, said Professor L J. West. Professor West, the H. B. Williams visiting professor for 1979, is in Christchurch for several days as part of a two-week lecture tour of New Zealand. He has already spent some time in Australia and he will lecture at the University of Otago Medical School this weekend. s

"New Zealand is among the most civilised countries in the world today," he said. He referred to the high standards of social justice, race relations, domestic tranquility and family stability. “Other nations continue to look to New Zealand for direction in these areas.” But the treatment of mental health was “dragging the chain.”

“There are more psychiatrists in the Australian State of Victoria than in the whole of New Zealand, and

the blame for this must fall squarely on the Government,” he said. “It is a problem of priorities. Your Government must realise the special significance this field has, and develop courses to change the priorities.” Not that the mental health of New Zealanders was any worse than in other countries, he said. "Your resources for dealing with this major health problem are simply not up to scratch The service offered is nowhere near what the people require.”

The next decade would spawn a host of new problems related to mental illness. One of the most pressing would concern the elderly, Professor West said.

“Gero-psychology is a new and rapidly-growing field with a new and special set of problems. The number of people aged over 65 if growing rapidly, and the quality of life for our old people is related to their special problems.

“For example, elderly folk can suffer from depression just as much as anyone else, but it is too often shrugged off as just old age,” Professor West said. “It is not. It is an illness, and must be treated as such.”