Mental health affects many Ottawa residents
While 72% of Ottawa residents have a positive perception of their own mental health, many also face mental health challenges.
The majority of mental health problems begin before adulthood. Between 2010 and 2015, there was a sharp uptick in mental health emergency visits to the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, suggesting growing challenges in addressing problems before they escalate to a crisis situation. In the same period, the Pinecrest Queensway Hospital reported a 46% increase in emergency department mental health consultations.
A 2015 poll indicated that over 90% of Canadians say more needs to be done to improve the quality and accessibility of mental health care. Almost 15% of Canadians received health services for a mental illness in 2009/10, but only about 6% of health care dollars in Canada go to addressing mental health. The focus is largely on illness versus on supporting positive mental health.
- Advancing Care for All Ages: Campaign Update February 2016. Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation
- Centre for Addictions and Mental Health 2012. Mental Illness and Addictions: Facts and Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2016.
- Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Some Statistics on Mental Health. Accessed February 1, 2016.
- Government of Canada 2015. Report from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System: Mental Illness in Canada, 2015. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- Ipsos Reid poll 2015. Nearly Two in Three Canadians (64%) Worried that the Health Care System is Falling Behind. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- Mental Health Commission of Canada 2010. Making the case for investing in mental health in Canada. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- Ottawa Public Health 2014. State of Ottawa's Health 2014. Accessed April 11, 2016.
Suicide rates are higher for males and peak in middle age
From 2012 to 2016 Ottawa averaged 80 deaths by suicide each year.
Male suicide rates in all age categories are much higher than female, but this is universally the case. Rates also differ markedly among age groups.
Across Canada as a whole, suicide is a leading cause of death among youth and young adults, and suicide rates among Indigenous youth are 5 to 6 times higher than for non-Indigenous youth
- Statistics Canada 2015. Divorce and Suicide Rates, per 100,000, Canada, 1950 to 2008. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- Health Canada 2016. First Nations and Inuit Health. Mental Health and Wellness. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- The Conference Board of Canada 2016. How Canada Compares -- Suicides. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- O'Connor R.C., Platt S., Gordon J., eds. International Handbook of Suicide Prevention: Research, Policy and Practice. Wiley Blackwell, 2011.
- OECD 2011. Child well-being Module. Teenage Suicide. Accessed April 11, 2016.
- Ottawa Public Health 2018. Status of Mental Health in Ottawa: Report 2018
Self-injury hospitalizations in Ottawa have decreased in most recent years
While the rate of self-injury hospitalizations had been comparable with provincial and national levels from 2012-2016, 2017 saw these numbers dip, returning to a similar trend that was seen at the beginning of the decade.
Ontario’s rates of hospitalization due to self-injury appear to be correlated with income. The rate among the lowest-earning 20% of Ontario’s population is more than double that found in the top two income quintiles.
- Canadian Institute for Health Information 2017. Health Indicators Interactive Tool. Accessed October 2019