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#VaxTheIllawarra supports research into mental health

Dr Natalie Matosin and her team, will receive $15,000 to continue research into understanding how stress contributes to the development of mental illness.

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#VaxTheIllawarra supports research into mental health
Dr Natalie Matosin, the IHMRI researcher whose work into the effects of stress on mental illness will benefit from the $15,000 funding. Photo supplied

#VaxTheIllawarra media release: 30 March 2022

The Illawarra community was quick to support the #VaxTheIllawarra campaign which encouraged people to get the jab and reduce the risks while helping ease the burden on the health system.

Launched by Olympian Emma McKeon and supported by a raft of sportspeople, business leaders, and Illawarra identities, the campaign helped boost the region’s vaccination rate from around 30 percent to more than 90 percent in just a few months.

The campaign also raised funds through corporate sponsorship and today the #VaxTheIllawarra team will present the proceeds of the campaign to a research program at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI).

Dr Natalie Matosin and her team, will receive $15,000 to continue research into understanding how stress contributes to the development of mental illness.

Vicki Tiegs speaking at a wrap-up morning tea at IHMRI on 30 March 2022.

#VaxTheIllawarra campaign founder Vicki Tiegs said the research being undertaken by Dr Matosin was crucial as individuals and families dealt with increasing levels of stress in their daily lives along with the cumulative effects of world crises.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an incredible toll on so many lives and its effects will be felt for a long time to come,” she said.

“It was important to our team to donate the funds raised to a project that can make a crucial difference in how we deal not only with current stressors but future ones. Dr Matosin’s research covers not only the impacts caused by COVID-19 but by so many other factors in all levels of society.”

Dr Matosin said that world events like the pandemic, wars and environmental disasters were exacerbating stress levels already high due to increasing pressures of caring responsibilities, job strain and social isolation.

“These accumulated stressors are taking a toll; a silent epidemic that is impacting the emotional and physical health of virtually all Australians,” she said.

“Stress is not always bad for us – it prompts laser focus and sparks motivation. However, stress that overwhelms our ability to cope is a leading risk factor for mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders. Affecting 1 in 5 people, mental illness cost Australia $11billion in 2021. The World Health Organisation predicts these illnesses will affect 1 in 3 people by 2030.

“Current treatments for mental illnesses are limited, as they often have a lot of side effects or in some people, they simply do not work. We urgently need improved treatments, but this is only possible if we first understand how risk factors, like stress, trigger mental illness.”

Dr Matosin says understanding the process of how stress is integrated into the fabric of our brain is one of the key ways that we can identify people who are at risk of developing a mental illness after experiencing stressful events, and then intervene to stop a mental illness from developing, or more efficiently treat an existing mental illness.

“The #VaxTheIllawarra funding will enable us to undertake a study to understand how severely stressful events – like wars, COVID-19, and environment disasters – impacts on our brains to predispose us to mental illness. This will then provide the new fundamental knowledge necessary to develop more effective ways to treat mental illnesses,” she said.

#vaxtheillawarra   profile image
by #vaxtheillawarra

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