Mental Health

 

 

"Taking care of your mental health is an act of self love"

 A persons emotional, psychological and social well being are all apart of their mental health. it also includes our thinking pattern, behaviors and feelings. when we talk about the mental health it’s a very complex topic and most of the time mental sickness is mistaken for any mental disorder.

Mental Health means

Mental health does not exist on its own. It is an integral and essential part of overall health, which can be defined in at least three ways – as the absence of disease, as a state of the organism that allows the full performance of all its functions or as a state of balance within oneself and between oneself and one’s physical and social environment (Sartorius, 2002). Which of these three definitions is used depends on the level to which the basic health needs are satisfied. These needs include food, shelter, survival, protection, society, social support, and freedom from pain, environmental haz- ards, unnecessary stress and from any part of exploitation (Maslow, 1968).

 The state of mental health implies that the individual has the ability to form and maintain affectionate relation- ships with others, to perform in the social roles usually played in their culture and to manage change, recognize, acknowledge and communicate positive actions and thoughts as well as to manage emotions such as sadness. Mental health gives an individual the feeling of worth, control and nderstanding of internal and external func- tioning. The Society for Health Education and Promotion Specialists (SHEPS, 1997) suggests that mental health also involves feeling positive about oneself and others, feeling glad and joyful and loving. Mental health, like mental illness, is also affected by biological, social, psy- chological and environmental factors. The individual at the core of functioning is surrounded by the social world – in the proximal world it will include family, kinship, employers, peers, colleagues, friends and, in the distal context, society and culture.

Poor mental health at workplace effects

• 
  Disengaged employees                                
• Poor communication
• High turnover
• Safety liabilities 
• Poor job performance
• Low productivity
• Poor decision making
• Decreased profits

(Total Safety, 2022) 

 

Risks to Mental Health at Work

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), risks to mental health may involve job content or work schedule, unsafe workplace conditions, or lack of career opportunities and development. Other risks to mental health at work can include:

• excessive workloads or work pace
• understaffing
• long or inflexible hours
• limited support from colleagues
• discrimination and exclusion
• unclear job role
• job insecurity
• conflicting home/work demands

(Total Safety, 2022)

Mental health at workplace

Nowadays mental illness is becoming the biggest treats to the employees. According to WHO depression will have become the largest single healthcare burden in 2030 which costs $6 trillion. globally. The poor mental health of workers in a company can be attributed to variety of factors. Although there is a direct relationship between an employee's mental health and productivity at work.

Sadness and anxiety are the most common mental health conditions that occur in the working environment. As well as poor mental health of employees and an unfriendly environment at a workplace can lead to various physical illness such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases.    

How to Improve Mental Health in the Workplace

·       Engagement/Communication

·       Training

·       Empowerment

·       Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

·       Create a Relaxation Space

(Hubgets Blog, 2020)

Solutions for mental health

According to my opinion human resources department has major role play to address the mental health of the employees. There could be several channels to address those issues.

·       Grievance cell

·       Working conditions

·       Job rotation

 

References

Galderisi, S., Heinz, A., Kastrup, M., Beezhold, J. and Sartorius, N., 2017. A proposed new definition of mental health. Psychiatria Hungarica, 51(3), pp.407-411.

Verma, D.R., Goyal, B. and Bhat, V.A., 2023. Employee Engagement and Mental Health in the Management of Human Resources. Journal for ReAttach Therapy and Developmental Diversities, 6(7s), pp.273-282.

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Having a conversation: discussing mental health in the workplace -- Sarah’s story. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/Vn9_gDGNnRE?si=Ud_JQ6sDuZ8x3h5o [Accessed 1 Apr. 2024].

Gill, R., 2021. Organisational support for employees suffering with mental health issues: how Human Resource departments can work in conjunction with both employees and management to resolve this ongoing issue (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).

Sartorius, N. (2002). Fighting for mental health : a personal view. Cambridge Cambridge Univ. Press.

Abraham Harold Maslow (1968). Toward a Psychology of Being. Princeton, N.J. : Van Nostrand.