Articles in today's Herald illustrate that levels of psychiatric illness and psychological distress are rising in the community but resources to combat the conditions are inadequate and poorly distributed.

The problems are not simple, which helps explain society's perennial inability to come to terms with them.

An irrational insistence on treating physical and mental well-being as unrelated doesn't help, any more than the persistent stigma inflicted on those who suffer from psychotic conditions.

It may be true that people have become more willing to recognise and discuss depression and anxiety, but it is not yet evident that health systems have adjusted to this reality.

Some fear that an over-reliance on medication, combined with an under-provision of public mental health resources and an under-supply of private mental health practitioners in many areas is producing poor results for many patients.

In the Hunter it is plain that the small handful of formal psychiatric facilities are often overwhelmed by demand, that many people with serious mental illness are receiving little monitoring as they attempt to live with their condition in the community and that burgeoning drug abuse is adding to the load.

The situation outside the larger population centres is especially acute, mainly because of a severe lack of services.

Hunter GP organisations, while grateful for some relatively recent assistance for mental health provided through Medicare, have warned that these subsidies have done nothing to help people with limited access to services and have also resulted in a predictable increase in professional fees - therefore arguably benefiting psychologists more than their clients.

GPs have suggested alternatives for future funding that may help spread resources more fairly. It is to be hoped that governments are listening.

Assaulting ambos