One in three psychologists are being forced to turn new clients away, up from one in 100 before the pandemic.
The shocking new figures were revealed in a survey by the Australian Psychological Society.
It revealed that patients in the ACT found it hardest to be seen, with one in two psychologists turning patients away.
More than 86 per cent of Tasmanian psychologists had wait lists, the highest in Australia. While in South Australia, patients who were accepted waited an average of 76.8 days to be seen, compared with 55 days on average across the country.
More than a quarter of psychologists reported seeing an increase in the number of children and young people requesting help.
Anxiety, stress and depression were the most common issues on the increase since the pandemic began.
Director and Clinical Psychologist Dr Aaron Frost said at one point his Queensland clinic had 150 people waiting up to nine months to be seen.
However, the wait was now around a month.
He said he was routinely doing paperwork until 10pm at night, while the clinic’s receptionists on the frontline were often in tears.
“They hear the stories of people who call and they break the news to people that it will be a long time till the person can be seen,” he said.
“I have never seen more of our receptionists in tears more often than during the last 12 months.
“They also are the subject of a lot of abuse form people who are just frustrated with how backlogged the system is.”
Melissa Kingston-Lee, 39, of Adelaide, said her daughter Zayah, 17, had borderline personality disorder and autism and had attended hospital more than 100 times in two years due to self-harm.
Melissa Kingston-Lee said her daughter has attended hospital many times for self-harm, but couldn’t find any specialist to help her for two years. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe
She said her daughter had attempted suicide several times.
She had tried to get appointments with psychologists and psychiatrists, but had only just had her first session.
“I was shocked at just how bad the system was,” Ms Kingston-Lee said.
“I did not think a young person would have to wait so long to get help.”
The survey revealed that on average psychologists were working 17 hours unpaid every week.
“Many psychologists are desperate to help their patients but are unsure how long they can keep going,” APS President Tamara Cavenett said.
The society has called on the federal government to invest $5 million to create more than 3500 supervisors and 6000 additional psychologists within two years.
It also wanted the government to fund one school psychologist for every 500 kids, scrap the need for a GP referral, expand Medicare coverage by lowering the gap fee for patients and replicate GP regional relocation incentives for psychologists.
A government spokesman said mental health and suicide prevention remained “one of the Morrison Government’s highest priorities” and it had committed nearly $3 billion to a Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, was doubling the number of subsidised psychological therapy sessions from 10 to 20, and introducing the first ever specific Medicare support for eating disorders, as well as looking to establish a new national network of new adult Head to Health centres and child mental health hubs.
Originally published as 1 in 3 psychologists forced to turn people away, shocking survey reveals