There was, some years ago, a survey where two thirds of respondents said fear of stigma of mental health stopped them from telling their employer or prospective employer about their mental health problems. I do not know if that figure has changed but I do know that if I was asked by someone whether they should tell an employer about their mental health problems I’d generally say no, unless they were absolutely certain they would not be stigmatised and/or judged.
For many of the latter years of my career, I was well looked after by managers who managed me to the extent that I was able to function, at least to a certain level, when I was at most depressed and anxious. Mental health symptoms can be many and varied and I have many and varied symptoms. These include an inability to concentrate and take in information, feeling tearful, feeling paranoid, struggling with tiredness and lethargy, the brain all muddled up and confused. There are plenty more.
Some managers, the good ones, recognise that mental health should be treated on the same level as physical health. My experience since then has not reflected that. On the contrary, they have made things worse.
I cannot help being ill sometimes. It is not something I particularly enjoy but I do try and work through it. I do need help and support and when I get it, most people won’t notice, apart from my occasional forgetfulness and when I ask the same question on a number of occasions. It is when people don’t understand mental health, when they make no allowances, when they hector and lecture when something goes wrong, that they actually make mentally ill people even more mentally ill.
There is nothing more embarrassing than breaking down in your workplace when colleagues are all around and nothing more frustrating than when managers make no allowances for your mental state. My managers during my short and disastrous stay at Tesco were the absolute pits when it came to sympathy, empathy and understanding to the extent that I had to walk out of the door never to return. (Note: many other people report favourable experiences of working at Tesco: I was just unlucky, apparently.)
There is one argument you hear every time. If someone has a broken leg, you can see what’s broken. You don’t then tell that person to start running. If someone is suffering from cancer, the natural reaction is to support that person and quite right too. But mental health: you can’t see that. You can’t see it and anyway it’s just being fed up, so pull yourself together. Get on with your work and shut up. “If you don’t want to work here,” said my Tesco manager, “It’s no problem to me.” Thanks for that.
I hear very positive mental health stories from private companies and public sector organisations but I hear bad ones too. Imagine suffering from a terrible bout of depression and then being warned by your employer for taking sick leave. Worse still, imagine being bullied and brow-beaten by jumped up managers and supervisors when you were feeling like death warmed up.
I thought some months ago that the tide had turned regarding mental health and we were finally getting to grips with the problem, but it isn’t happening. The stigma is worse than ever. We cannot be relied on to do a good job, we cannot be trusted full stop.
If you think you are suffering from mental health issues, see your GP and hopefully a therapist or counsellor. Be very careful about telling your employer because they may either wholly ignore your illness, make sure you never get on and worse still try and see you moved on from the employer. Not every employer treats the mentally ill like dirt but so many do I’d urge folk to be very careful who they tell.
