What This Means
This research surveyed over 6,000 Australians in 2024, focusing on roughly 2,600 people who reported having a mental health problem or significant psychological distress. It asked them about their experiences of discrimination over the past year across many areas of life — including family, friendships, workplaces, housing, and healthcare. The most commonly reported areas of discrimination were social life, family, and friendships, but when both how often discrimination occurred and how much it affected people were combined into a 'burden score,' the greatest harm came from discrimination in finding or keeping a job, in romantic relationships, in housing, and in accessing welfare or disability benefits. The most common form of discrimination across settings was other people simply not understanding how much someone's mental health problem affected them.
The study also found that people aged 35–64 experienced higher burden across more areas of life than younger adults, and that people with depression or ADHD faced discrimination across more domains than those with anxiety or severe mental health conditions. Strikingly, nearly 68% of respondents said that stigma and discrimination was worse than their mental health problem itself — a finding that highlights how profoundly social attitudes and treatment can compound the difficulties of living with a mental health condition.
This research suggests that policy and practice efforts to reduce mental health stigma should prioritize workplaces, welfare and housing systems, and intimate relationships. Simply educating people — whether employers, landlords, family members, or partners — about the real impact of mental health problems on daily functioning could meaningfully reduce the harm experienced. The findings provide a roadmap for where targeted anti-stigma interventions are most urgently needed in Australia.