Counting the cost of poor mental health

Stress can be defined as the way you feel when you’re under abnormal pressure or when there is an upset to your physical, mental or emotional balance.

Stress is a bit like calories – it is not all equal. Healthy stress is the type of stress that encourages us to grow, be and do better – and comes naturally when we take on new responsibilities and challenges like going for a promotion, organising a conference, writing a book or buying a house. It also comes when we deal with normal life situations – when we address work challenges, relationship difficulties and the life events we face in the best way and learn and apply lessons as we go through them.

There is also the unhealthy stress we generate for ourselves through our thoughts, actions and inactions… When we eat too much sugar, or drink too much alcohol or consume otherwise what adversely affects our concentration. When we think negatively and fearfully about what is going on, we also generate stress. If you think more than one negative thought for every three positive, you will naturally create tension – ideally it should be 4 or 5 positive to every one negative if you want to thrive.

Doubt and indecision are highly stressful too. We also generate stress for ourselves through poor habits, bad planning and procrastination. The other type is the unhealthy stress is the stress we take in from outside. It happens when we take in more negativity than we can handle constructively at any given point – this could be through watching current affairs programmes late at night or focussing on world events that frustrate or overwhelm us. When we listen to gossip and negativity it happens too.

Financial difficulties are also a serious source of stress for people with 39 % of people in Ireland naming it as their top worry – followed by family and health. The bigger upheavals such as separation or loss, moving house or unemployment or the cumulative effect of smaller upheavals like not feeing valued at work or at home or parenting challenges add to stress.

If we sit and reflect, we are aware of the cost to us personally. But what about the financial cost? According to the OECD, mental health issues cost the State €8.2 billion every year – or 3 per cent of Ireland’s GDP. On any given day, 6.3 % of Irish people are struggling with an anxiety disorder.

One in four of us experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives. Around one in ten children experience mental health problems. Mental health affects the person and everyone around them–their friends, families, work colleagues and society in general.

It is not possible to grow in life without stress. It also brings excitement, makes us more alert and present and can even enhance performance. It is only healthy however when it is short lived. As the growth equation says: stress + rest = growth. Without the rest, we end up with burnout, anxiety, depression and exhaustion and in extreme it can be a killer – of joy, life and happiness. Stress, anxiety and depression are the second leading cause of work-related illness reported by workers in Ireland with 18 per cent of workplace absences in Ireland from mental health conditions.

Prevention is always better than cure. Invest in maintaining and strengthening positive habits and reducing unhealthy stress. If you are prone to it as many kind caring people with perfectionist tendencies are, learn to relax, identify the causes, make habit changes and ask for help when you need it. This is true for both the workplace and in personal life.