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In corporate culture, career growth comes
through performance. Education, attitude, skills, knowledge and
ability to learn are detrimental to performance. If a person has
good public speaking skills then his presentations can bring
career advantage. Chauvinistic attitude may affect working
relationships and working with a female superior. If a person is
mortally scared of travelling it may not only stall his career
but may also lead to his losing the job. Corporate employees are
expected to keep up with the changing technologies; any
inability to learn or resistance to change can lead to end of
career. Any factor that adversely affects the performance can
lead to mental health problems for the person. This article
provides an overview of certain concerns of mental health among
people in the service sector.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has made
an initiative to improve mental health in the work place “The
development and implementation of a workplace mental health
policy and programme will benefit the health of employees,
increase productivity for the company and will contribute to the
well-being of the community at large”.
It would be prudent not to take mental health
for granted, as any derailment will affect the functioning of
the person - severe mental health problems can even lead to
total breakdown of functioning. Mental health is the result of
interaction between biological, psychological, social and
environmental factors. Some of the risk factors identified for
mental health problems among the people in the service sector as
per WHO recommendations are:
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Work load (both excessive and
insufficient work);
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Lack of participation and control in the
workplace;
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Monotonous or unpleasant tasks;
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Role ambiguity or conflict;
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Lack of recognition at work;
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Inequity, favouritism.
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Poor interpersonal relationships;
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Poor working conditions;
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Poor leadership and communication;
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Conflicting home and work demands
Few more risk factors based on the
experiences of the author’s patients:
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Emotionally abusive superiors (shouting,
screaming and demoralising; to make the staff lose
confidence, so that they will not ask for a hike or look for
better job prospects, comparing with subservient staff)
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Demanding superiors (emotionally,
sexually and physically)
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Superiors with mental illness and
personality disorders (obsessive type and manipulative)
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Expecting loyalty and obedience for
career promotions that come out of work experience.
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Exploitation by paying low salary for
many years
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Attitudinal (expecting staff to be
subservient)
Stress
Conflicts in the job, demands of the job,
interpersonal conflicts, dissatisfaction with one’s supervisor
or with the job itself, insufficient financial compensation,
fear of losing one’s job, fear of changing a job for greater
advancement, feeling stifled in a quest for power, not feeling
appreciated or acknowledged, all produce significant stress. The
degree of stress will vary depending on the personality of the
individual.
The behaviour of a superior with rude
expressions, poor management skills, no proper focus can have a
detrimental effect on the personality of the employees. If the
subordinate on the first instance of screaming responds
assertively then the verbal abuse may diminish. On the other
hand if the subordinate takes all the abuse quietly, then the
abuser will feel encouraged to repeat such undesirable behaviour.
Lack of assertiveness leads to employees accepting assignments
about which they have no clue! Then they will toss themselves up
for accepting and end up not performing at the specified time.
All work and no play can make not only ‘Jack
a dull boy’ but also others. Similarly, those who keep
scheduling tasks without taking a break and relaxing can
experience ‘burnout’; a condition in which they get emotionally
and physically exhausted. Family plays a very important role in
satisfying emotional needs and growth of a person; any effort to
compensate time with family with career growth or material
comforts will only prove to be futile. So sufficient time with
family is pivotal for a person’s mental health and any effort to
minimise it by the individual or employer have to be considered
as a serious concern.
Another major problem faced by successful
people is ‘Emotional Prostitution’ for financial or career gain,
by unscrupulous people of both genders. They will make the
person get emotionally involved by pretending to be attracted to
them. Some of the common dialogues are; ‘Only after meeting you
I feel happy in life’, ‘I have not known what happiness is till
I met you’ ‘Only after meeting you I found meaning in life’ ‘All
I want is spend a little time with you’ ‘I just want to see you,
no need to even talk’ etc.
Those who are very ambitious but neither have
knowledge/skills nor hardworking attitude, befriend successful
people, entice them into a relationship as if they are truly
emotionally committed. The relationship will last till their
needs are met or till they meet another successful person, who
shows good prospects for being a victim. The modus operandi is
they befriend, drain the person financially and emotionally and
then break the relationship by making some flimsy accusations.
Normally, the victims undergo severe trauma that will adversely
affect their career, marriage, health and peace of mind.
Case study: A housewife decided to join work
because she was not able to manage the family with the
four-digit salary of her husband. As she was not of hard working
nature she decided to take the easy way to prosperity. She spent
more time at work talking to her superior than working for which
she was given a five-digit salary. After six months she invited
the boss for breakfast at home, after which he used to pick her
up and drop her at home everyday.
Three months later the superior felt it was
unnecessary hassle for her to come for work, so her
responsibilities were reduced to organising a private meeting at
home when there was privacy. In six months’ time she bought a
beautiful apartment without going for work a single day! Once
her financial needs were met her focus turned towards a young,
handsome boy next door, who showed all enthusiasm to be her
victim. Her superior was informed that her husband has started
suspecting her, so not to get in touch for at least another six
months! The superior had to be treated for attempted suicide,
depression and anxiety.
Psychiatric problems
In the service sector, common types of
psychiatric conditions found are depression, anxiety,
somatisation and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In anxiety disorder, the person has an
unknown fear or anxiety over a particular situation like making
a presentation or travelling. The anxiety symptoms are
palpitation, tremors, sweating, restlessness, churning in the
stomach, etc.
In depression, a person will experience lack
of interest, low mood and increase or decrease in appetite and
sexual drive, focussing only on the negative consequences of an
event, having demoralising thoughts about self and others.
In obsessive-compulsive disorder, the person
in spite of knowing the futility, will keep repeatedly doing
things like washing, hoarding useless objects, keep washing
hands or be totally preoccupied with the orderliness and
neatness of the place.
Addiction
Substance abuse can be found in the form of
daily drinking of alcohol, taking tablets and intake of
marijuana, heroin and other substances to induce intoxication.
Minor form of substance abuse can be in the form of chewing
betel nuts, smoking cigarettes, etc. This habit can be formed
out of social compulsions to drink in parties and then it can
become a devastating habit. Similarly, being adventurous in
trying out drugs can get them hooked on to it on a permanent
basis. Those who take such substance can also have underlying
emotional problems in terms of failures in their personal life,
career or some major disappointment.
Pornography addiction is another common
problem found among both gender and in all marital status. They
will have a preoccupation to visit pornography sites sometimes
accompanied by solitary sexual activity.
Treatment
Any mental health problem will be treated by
a team:
Psychiatrist (provides medicines and psychotherapy);
Psychologist (assessments);
Psychotherapist (specialised psychotherapy);
Psychiatric Social Worker (individual and family counselling):
and
Nurse (supervision of medicines).
Only psychiatric conditions and addiction
require medicines, counselling and psychotherapy can cure minor
forms of mental health problems and psychological problems.
Many workshops and skills development
programmes are available nowadays, but those with low
self-esteem and those not comfortable with groups may not
benefit from such workshops. So they may require individual
attention in a customised form in therapy sessions.
Meeting a psychotherapist and discussing the
issues will enable the therapist to diagnose the nature of the
problem and suggest a treatment plan that may range from one
session to many sessions for a few months.
An effective form of psychotherapy for both
psychiatric and psychological problems is Cognitive Behaviour
Therapy (CBT). CBT is a specialised form of counselling and
psychotherapy to help patients overcome their emotional
problems, correct faulty process in thinking, feeling and
behaviour through simple physical and mental exercises. Patients
can develop illogical thoughts, faulty way of thinking, (Ex: I
am good for nothing, others usually do not respect me, etc).
Such faulty thought patterns can provoke intense negative
emotions. Similarly, out of fear of failure they can avoid doing
certain activity, which can lead to problems in their life. (Ex;
public speaking, avoiding exams)
The therapist enables the person to recognise
such patterns of distorted thinking and dysfunctional behaviour.
The therapist alters distorted thoughts and dysfunctional
behaviours using systematic discussion and carefully structured
cognitive and behavioural assignments. The patients work in a
collaborative relationship with the therapist to identify
problems and strategies to overcome the problem.
Stigma is a major problem that inhibits
people from seeking any kind of psychological help from
professionals. Similarly, seeking the opinion of a
psychotherapist is considered a sign of weakness. Seeking the
assistance of mental health professionals can facilitate early
detection and treatment.
The focus of the government is economic
growth, the corporate houses are focusing on obtaining projects
and employees are striving towards increasing pay scale. Given
the context of raising divorce rates and breaking up of nuclear
families - not very long ago we were talking of the breaking up
of joint families - it is time to seriously consider mental
health issues! It will be better to work towards promotion of
mental health now rather than on rehabilitation later.
Ravi Samuel
Consultant Psychotherapist
www.urclinic.com
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