A person can experience high pressure and demands outside work just as much as they can at work. Stressors at home can affect those at work and vice versa. Sometimes, it is difficult to control outside stressors, but you need to take a holistic approach to employee well-being. To manage work-related Stress effectively, you need to recognize the importance and interaction of work and home problems and find an appropriate balance.
How common mental health problems (CMHPs) and work-related stress correlate
Work-related stress and CMHPs often go together. The symptoms of stress and CMHPs are very similar. For example loss of appetite, fatigue and tearfulness can be symptoms of both.Work-related stress can aggravate an existing Mental Health problem, making it even more difficult to control. If work-related stress reaches a point where it has triggered an existing mental health problem, it becomes very hard to separate one from the other.Work-related stress may result in mental health problems when it is experienced over a longer time.
Often, CMHPs and stress can exist independently – people can experience work-related stress and physical changes such as high blood pressure, without having anxiety and depression. They can also have anxiety and depression without stress.The key differences between the two are their cause and the way they are treated.
Stress is a reaction to events or experiences in someone’s home life, work life or very often, a combination of both. CMHPs can have a single cause outside work, for example bereavement, divorce, postnatal depression, a medical condition or a family history of the problem. But people can have CMHPs with no obvious causes.
Here are the most common work related mental disorders:
- Anxiety
Having high levels of anxiety can have a major impact on your ability to work. Anxiety takes many forms – from general anxiety to anxiety triggered by a particular situation (a phobia).Those experiencing anxiety may seem unusually worried or fearful in most situations, making excuses not to socialize or attend meetings.
Other signs of anxiety include:
- panic attacks;
- restlessness and becoming increasingly irritable;
- difficulty concentrating or meeting deadlines;
- a sense of fear.
Facing up to anxiety, and how it makes you feel, can be the first step in breaking the cycle of fear and insecurity. Feeling relaxed and able to talk about your anxieties to friends, family and colleagues can help you to take back control and deal with your anxiety before it becomes much more serious.
- Depression
Feeling sad from time to time is normal, but if these feelings continue for more than a couple of weeks, or are so bad that they affect your everyday life, you may need help.Depression can develop slowly and is usually caused by more than one thing, with work being a contributing factor due to:
- workload;
- unsociable hours;
- lack of job security;
- problems with colleagues.
If you are depressed, you might:
- feel irritable or overly emotional;
- have low confidence and find it difficult to concentrate;
- lose interest in your work;
- get tired quickly and feel disengaged.
- Panic attacks
Panic attacks are a sign of anxiety and are common in the workplace, causing an overwhelming sense of fear and apprehension. Left unmanaged, panic attacks can become more frequent and severe leaving you unable to work.Panic attacks can be treated effectively through a combination of therapy and medication. There are also several self-help techniques you can use to treat the symptoms yourself.
If you feel under pressure, it’s hard to distinguish when that ‘stress’ turns into a ‘mental health problem’ and when an existing mental health problem becomes aggravated by stress at work. Many of the symptoms of stress and a mental health condition are similar. The key differences are in the severity and duration of the symptoms and the impact they have on your everyday life. The majority of people with mental health problems are diagnosed and treated by their doctor and most continue to work productively. In fact, evidence shows that staying in work can be of great benefit to those affected.
