Far too often, when discussing the attributes of workplace safety, the focus is turned to the physical and more observable conditions that exist. Attention is placed on fixing the switches that are visibly broken, mopping up the liquid that spilled, or teaching employees to insert tab A into slot B to avoid a catastrophe. Engineers are able to recognise internal problems from the sounds emitted by machines, take them apart and rebuild them as if new. The harder task is recognising what is affecting the internal programming of the operators.
The individual’s mind and inner psyche is more unique, one person to the next, than any outward appearance we display. Working to understand and help people’s mental health ensures a healthier person, a safer atmosphere, and leads to increased cost savings for your company.
The World Health Organization has broken down the costs associated with mental health disorders in the United Kingdom per year as follows: £8.4 billion in sickness absence, £15.1 billion in reduced productivity, and £2.4 billion in replacement personnel. These numbers are expected to increase over time if companies do not take action to address these issues in a more proactive manner, and in a way that preserves the dignity and privacy employees deserve.
Commonality
Mental disorders are the leading cause of disabilities. In high-income countries reporting incidents, 40% of disabilities can be attributed to mental disorders. The biggest indicator has to be understanding what is considered a mental disorder, and examples of how these can lead to physical issues. It is most probable that you know someone, or have dealt with it on a personal level, or worked with people who have tried to cope with these disorders.
A distorted sense of body image can lead to anorexia or other eating disorders. Postpartum depression, grief, bipolar disorder, PTSD, phobias and stigmas all take their toll. Anxiety that interferes with your daily actions, dementia, ADHD and obsessive compulsive disorders will all impact typical daily functions. Even being overly optimistic can be considered a mental disorder when it, along with the others, affects the moods, thinking processes and behaviour of individuals.
Awareness
The goal is to raise awareness levels within organisations. It is understandably hard to bring to the surface the issues a person is trying to hide or even self-realise. The best method to help an individual is to apply the 4R system: recognise, respond, reaffirm and re-align.
Recognise the behaviours that each person is displaying. From past experience you can set a bar for how a person is acting today versus when they were in a positive, attentive mood. Recognising is accepting and acknowledging actions. This gives validity to the person displaying the actions, as well as to the receptive person. It helps to make it real.
Responding is more than a head nod, whether as a co-worker or as a manager. To be helpful, you have to be a sounding board to the person in question. If you need to partner with a third party to protect yourself, then do that, because responding can allow the individual to unload. When embarking on a journey, the first step is always the hardest, but it is the most necessary step to take. Responding allows that to happen for the person struggling.
Reaffirming gives the person acceptance that it is okay to have feelings, and that getting help is a confident decision. This also gives acknowledgment that the issue will be held in confidence.
Re-aligning is the step that you hand off to the affected individual. The assistance they need has to come from a health industry professional. Never attempt to fully heal the individual without the help of an educated expert. By recognising, responding and reaffirming their actions with them, the move to re-align should come naturally and more easily because of your actions. Re-aligning can mean time away, or simply an off-the-premises, after-hours activity.
Unaddressed
Too often, not addressing the issues that are evident may seem easy to do. In reality, the effects can be devastating to the individual and the group as a whole. People affected by mental health issues that go unaddressed will progressively decline in work performance. You will see higher error rates, poor decision-making, increased grief, employee conflict and absenteeism, among other things.
Physical attributes will arise from ignoring the signs. Weight gain and loss, insomnia, and stress-induced heart issues such as high blood pressure. Immunity deficiencies are also affected by the body’s reaction to mental health disorders, and this can lead to sickness, disability and early retirement.
The stigma that comes with mental health disorders is hard enough for individuals to cope with. Social exclusion, anxieties and the like can lead to drug dependency and even suicide in extreme cases. Any supportive role that someone can play towards an individual will make an enormous difference; an unsupportive role can have the same effect in a negative manner.
With the variety of help available, corporate, legislative, clinical and personal, we as individuals and as a group can lend a more supportive hand in making a difference. The fact is that these issues hit us all a little closer than we care to believe.
If you believe that you, a family member, friend or co-worker is suffering from a mental disorder, and you would like to learn more, please seek out information that can lead to help, such as the Mental Health Foundation.