New figures show the rate of antidepressants being prescribed over the past four years is at an all-time high and there's a huge disparity between ethnic groups.
(file photo) Photo: (Flickr user Steve Snodgrass CC BY 2.0)
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Data released to RNZ's Checkpoint under the Official Information Act showed the rate of anti-depressants prescribed to Māori, and Pasifika was up to 34 times less than other ethnicities.
That was despite Māori and Pasifika having higher rates of mental health difficulties.
The data from the Ministry of Health looked at the number of anti-depressants prescribed from 2017-2020.
On average other ethnicities were given antidepressants at eight times the rate of Māori, 34 times the rate of Pasifika and 16 times the rate of Asians.
That was despite research which showed one in three Māori, and one in four Pacific people experienced mental illness compared to one in five for the total population according to the latest mental health report from 2018.
Dr Collin Tukuitonga Photo: PMA
Auckland University Pacific Health academic Collin Tukuitonga said the disparity was not surprising.
"Cost is often a barrier, just logistics and the reality you know not having transport and being able to go."
He said Pasifika were often undiagnosed and undertreated for mental health, due to cultural barriers.
"There's a prevailing view that Pacific people - particularly women - don't suffer depression or anxiety or they're not supposed to suffer depression or anxiety.
"We know from studies that Pacific Island people tend to present with physical symptoms such as a tummy ache and often they'll be treated for the tummy ache but their actual problem is a mental health disorder."
A lack of training for GPs on how to discuss mental health and pick up on the signs in Pasifika meant patients were pushed away, he said.
"They'll come once, they have an unpleasant experience and then they just disappear and don't come back."
University of Auckland Te Wānanga o Waipapa School of Māori and Pacific Studies's co-head of school Jemaima Tiatia-Seath said that pointed to institutional racism.
"There is a lack of cultural competency, New Zealand is diversifying thick and fast and yet the workforce isn't quite keeping up with that."
Dr Jemaima Tiatia-Seath, Co-Head of School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies, University of Auckland Photo: Auckland University
She wanted primary care workers to receive more support to treat patients for mental health.
New Zealand College of GPs medical director Dr Bryan Betty wanted that too.
"There's a huge amount of work that has to be done here, we've still got a very fragmented system, very difficult and there are large gaps. A lot of GPs, they feel a sense of frustration and isolation in dealing with these issues" Dr Betty said.
Dr Bryan Betty of Porirua Union and Community Health. Photo: RNZ / Karen Brown
GPs are often the first point of call for patients and Dr Betty said they did not have the support they needed from specialists.
The biggest jump was in 2020, when 21,721 more people than the year before were prescribed with anti-depressants.
Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson put that down to Covid-19 lockdowns and the pandemic's long-term effects.
On average, women were prescribed anti-depressants at nearly twice the rate of men, which Robinson put down to stigma.
"Unfortunately when it comes to suicide men are much more likely than women to go to the point of attempting or taking their own life, but our research shows women are almost twice as likely as men to have an unhealthy wellbeing."
Shaun Robinson Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The latest government inquiry into Mental Health from 2018 was released last month, finding some progress but frustration over the pace of change.
A new Independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission was established in response to this report, with goals to help improve the mental health system over the next five to 10 years.
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