Mental Health is a workplace issue

The Taoiseach made some off the cuff remarks about suicide, this week. He has apologised for these. There’s been substantial media coverage indicating mental health is still a “delicate” issue in Ireland.

The World Health Organisation (2001) describes mental health as follows:

“It is a state of well-being, which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

So good mental health enables a good quality of life and allows people to participate in life.

A recent survey of 30,000 employees by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development in England found mental health illness, is second only to musculoskeletal conditions as a cause of employee absence.
No directly comparable figures are available for Ireland, but various groups have estimated one in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. This means most families in Ireland are affected. If you’re reading this in the office, look up, because if there’s four or more people in the office around you, one of you is statistically likely to experience mental health problems.

Uunder the Health and Safety Act 1989, all employers are required to identify and safeguard against all health and safety risks. Stress is a contributory factor to mental health problems so employers have a responsibility in this respect.
See Mental Health Ireland for more information on this area.

Not feeling appreciated, work overload, or not enjoying your work can be a key cause of stress which can lead to depression.
Feeling sad or down is a normal part of life. If however these feelings have affected your ability to function at work or home and have lasted more than two weeks, you may be suffering from depression. Black Dog is a good Australian web site which has an reliable online questionnaire for checking if you have depression. It is not, however intended to be a substitute for clinical advice and you should check in with your GP, if doubts remain.

In Ireland, unfortunately, there is still a huge stigma about mental health problems, as the reaction to the Taoiseach’s comments shows. Saying you have a back problem is socially acceptable, but mention depression and it could impact your career.
Unless you work in an organisation which demonstrates and acts with strong values of respect and integrity, I reluctantly don’t recommend disclosing mental health issues such as depression if you can avoid it.

Part of this ongoing stigma is down to the woefully inadequate mental health services, which punishes people by making services difficult to obtain and treats service users in a totally disrespectful way. Strong words I know, but backed up by plenty of evidence. See the Government’s own Mental Health Report for the facts.

So don’t feel you’re abnormal, if you do have mental health issues, and don’t suffer in silence. If the first person you approach can’t or won’t help, keep trying.



Other articles of interest
How to stay stressed
how to choose a counsellor