Psychological distress and mental illness has been shown to be among the factors most powerfully associated with justiciable problem experience across numerous legal needs surveys.

The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) focuses on people’s experience of problems that are ‘justiciable’. This refers to problems arising in people’s lives that raise legal issues (e.g. problems with rented housing, being injured in a car accident, being unfairly sacked from work), even though they might not necessarily recognise them as legal.

The association between mental distress and experience of justiciable problems is consistent with other survey findings from Australia and overseas, as well as other PULS findings. There is evidence of a bi-directional relationship between experience of justiciable problems and adverse mental health. That is, those who experience problems with mental health are more likely to also experience justiciable problems, and justiciable problems are likely to cause stress and exacerbate poor mental health.

The findings in this briefing paper are drawn from the Public Understanding of Law Survey Volume 1.