Give thought to mental health
It may not just be a bad week at work, writes Melanie Burgess
Workers are urged to consider their mental wellbeing, as many who are suffering do not realise it and can become misunderstood.
WORKERS are urged to consider their mental wellbeing, as many who are suffering do not realise it and can become misunderstood by bosses and colleagues, further exacerbating the problem.
Following World Health Day yesterday, Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in reveals two in three respondents who are unsure if they have a mental health issue actually meet the criteria for depression.
Another three in five people meet the criteria for anxiety.
Peta Slocombe, managing director of Vital Conversations, which conducted the survey, says it is possible to be unaware of mental health issues, as often they are “a slow burn”.
“They keep telling themselves it’s just this project or it’s just the end of the financial year (making them feel this way),” she says.
Slocombe says young workers, in particular, are suffering, with 68 per cent of those aged 18 to 25 meeting criteria for mental health issues.
“They don’t develop resilience in the same way older people have,” she says.
“They have grown up with the thought they could control everything.
“They jump online for relationships, buying. They are outsourcing the brain function so consequently we have a whole generation where they can’t emotionally self-regulate.”
Globally, research from Spring fox reveals 55 per cent of people worry excessively, 50 per cent are hypervigi- lant, and 45 per cent experience symptoms of distress.
Human behaviour expert and author Dr John Demartini says workers with mental health issues can be incorrectly considered toxic employees, compounding their unhappiness.
“They could be stressed, they could be having other personal issues going on. Look at the whole picture,” he says. TO TAKE PART IN THE NEXT CONFIDENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH CHECK-IN ON MAY 1, VISIT MENTALHEALTHCHECKIN.COM