Mental health and support in the workplace context

Last week I began this subject trying to bust some myths about mental health in the workplace as set out in the seminars and workshops I recently attended in the UK.

It seems that stress in the workplace has now received a new strap line, ‘mental health in the workplace’. Three more myths include:

When a member of staff goes on sickness absence due to a mental health problem, it is best to leave them for as long as possible to avoid hassling them.

Contrary to this belief, research has shown that a lack of contact from a manager can actually make people feel less able to return. Early, regular and sensitive contact can, in fact, be a key factor in facilitating an early return to work.

This was evidenced by those who attended the workshop who had experienced absence due to depression. One woman said she had not been contacted at all. In particular she was upset because the staff had not even sent her a card, flowers, or a letter. She said she felt alienated and subsequently dreaded returning to work as a possible atmosphere had already built up in her head.

As I mentioned last week, it is so much easier to acknowledge a broken leg or a tangible injury. A very helpful DVD was shown where staff in a fictitious company ‘welcomed’ back a member of the accounts department who had been off with serious depression.

She was hoping for a quiet return and just getting used to her desk and work again. Instead, she was welcomed with a huge fanfare from the senior manager who tried his best, but said all the wrong things. When she finally did sit down at her desk, she couldn’t access the accounts she used to work on, there was no induction to her work, or hand-over, and finally the member of staff who had been covering her work came over to confront her.

This confrontation was aggressive and lacking in sensitivity. The person clearly did not feel there had been anything wrong and that the sufferer had just been faking her illness.

One of the aims of these workshops is to help staff understand how to cope with people suffering from stress and mental health issues. This can be done through management training or company training to all staff.

Mental health conditions are a sign of weakness. Those who have them are not as intelligent as other people and therefore less likely to be able to do a good job.

If this is true, then the following list of people should be considered to be weak or less intelligent than we are: Ludwig Van Beethoven, Winston Churchill, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens. Those are the past sufferers; there are many present celebrities who could join the list.

These people have all had mental health conditions and have made a vital contribution to world history. Is discrimination getting in the way of recruiting someone who could make a real contribution to an organisation?

‘There is nothing I can do to help’.

There is a lot you can do. Issues in the workplace can have a significant effect on someone’s state of mind. Feeling like they have control over their work and understanding the role can really help someone who is stressed.

Alternatively, at home, not taking people for granted and expecting more from them, instead of knowing when to stop putting pressure on them, is important. This all points to being more aware and sensitive of people’s reactions, moods and character.

In addition, once someone has been diagnosed, being sensitive to their problems, showing an interest and that you care, or are there to help, is important.

That is the end of the myths. There is no doubt that a manager who is responsible for a number of staff in a workplace needs to be aware of how stress affects the staff and how they should approach the situation. However, this, like anything else, has to be learnt and is not always apparent.

In the same way, we should be aware in our own family and circle of friends when someone close to us is affected. The signs are there; it is up to us to notice them and act, rather than ignore them and hope they will go away. Usually this is due to the fact that we don’t know what to do.

The four conditions we looked at in these workshops were depression with potential symptoms of extreme sadness, lethargy, low mood, avoiding social situations, poor concentration and many more.

Anxiety manifests as potential symptoms of feeling uneasy and severe worry or fears sometimes transferring into panic attacks.

Bi polar, if the condition is not managed well, can show extreme mood swings mixed with periods of hyperactivity or depression. However, most people manage this condition well.

Finally, schizophrenia or psychotic disorders, has potential symptoms including hallucinations, commonly hearing voices, social withdrawal, delusions, but again, people can manage this condition with medical help.

Stress in the workplace and mental health in the workplace are both important to include in an awareness programme for all staff.

kathryn@maltanet.net