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Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

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Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#21
I've found that "mental health" is little more than the APA trying to bully people. The APA is a joke because it views "you're depressed" as a scientific statement of fact rather than a way of bullying people. The reality is that it is ALWAYS bullies who bring up mental health. As soon as the subject of mental health comes up, people start acting like professional wrestlers because they know there is no response to the accusation, "you're crazy". So people act like stupid jerks who are putting on a show for ten year olds. They're both afraid of being called "crazy".

Just look at how awful people are when someone's mental health is questioned. Constitutional rights are flushed down the toilet and the accused is treated like a murderer.

What psychologists and psychoanalysts discovered is that you can bully people to the point where their family will pay for "therapy". Now, this "therapy" is little more than a chance for a professional bully to criticize your life. This bully, a "mental health professional", just wants more money. This bully will say anything in order to get you to keep coming back. This bully will ask about your dreams. This bully will tell you he knows what your dreams mean.

It is a scam, and the bullies who claim others lack "mental health" are parasites.

If you do research, you will find that other cultures consider western-style mental health a scam. Furthermore, it is impossible not to notice that an extraordinarily high number of veterans have "mental health issues". This is done to cover up the fact that a veteran is someone who has said, "I want to die for my country" but is no longer wanted for active service by their country. In other words, a veteran is a suicidal individual who is denied the chance to commit suicide through service. The "mental health" industry covers up this rather awkward situation by saying the soldier lacks "mental health" when in reality the society simply doesn't know what to do with him...after the society has given him the opportunity to say "I would rather die for all of you than live in your society as an ordinary citizen".

Society: DIE FOR US!

Soldier: OK, SIGN ME UP!

Society: NO, STOP IT!

Soldier: ???

The solution to this: put a bullet in the head of anyone who says "I want to die for my country". Genocide. Get rid of them. Don't let them cause trouble. Don't let weeds grow in your garden.

You want to die for your country? I'll kill you with my bare hands.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#22
"Mental Illnesses" are non-scientific and non-falsifiable.

See for a jump off point for your research: https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-disorders/no-medical-tes...

No progress will be made because there is nothing objective to measure or improve.

A Cult of Mental Illness has more in common with religion than medicine.

Furthermore. There is no "Mental" vs. "Physical". It is just one unit. Dualism is a construction of language and not objectively "there".

Imagine if the author just said: "I'm taking a day off for my health".

It would take on a different meaning but be completely equivalent in content and objective.

Then we could write an article about how "physical health" is stimatized.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#23

First hand experience. As a founder it's terrifying to let people know that you are experiencing debilitating levels of burnout, anxiety and moderate depression that prevent you from being effective at your job. There are days when you're just sitting there staring at your screen for 10 hours hoping nobody can tell you're checked out. You put on a smile, try to follow the usual routine as a robot, and secretly go to…

Uhg, I am in that exact situation right now. I've done the therapy thing in the past, didn't help. Meds in the past seemed to help but hard to isolate them as THE factor that helped me out of a rut. So now I feel out of options.

I am so burned out. So much on my plate, so much work to do, and literally not one neuron fires to get me going. My memory and mental function, at an all time low.

I gotta believe this just goes away, otherwise I lose my job for sure.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#25
post #9

Great article. A few years ago (at a previous job) I took a sick day for "sanity", but told them I wasn't feeling well. I felt guilty about doing it. I think part of it is the association of sick leave with externally visible medical issues, and the corresponding "straightforward" medical verification. In other words, if you have a temperature or are vomiting, that's obvious. Many infections or physical injury can be…

I've seen some companies in the UK operate what they call a "duvet day" policy. It's basically just two floating holidays a year you can choose to use at any time, doesn't require explanation and doesn't count as a sick day. I personally haven't worked somewhere with such a policy, but know some people who do, using it largely as a "sanity day" as you describe. They really seem to appreciate it. I'm in no way trying…

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think that's called a personal day here in the states. They usually give you two a year too, along with sick days.

Though I do agree, that there's stigma towards taking it for personal sanity, mind healing.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#26

It's not controversial, there's even a term for it - airing dirty laundry. People don't talk about it because they don't want to all of a sudden be treated differently because 'mental health', and now people around you are walking on egg-shells or being fake supportive. Why can't it just be a personality thing - some people need time alone more than others, for whatever reason that is. When you start labelling it men…

> Why can't it just be a personality thing...

For the same reason a cold isn't "just my body." Just like a virus can put your body in a bad state, so too can various stimuli to your mind. You don't just chalk it up to "how things are", you attempt to resolve it. For a cold, your body does that on it's own and you mostly just wait it out. Mental health issues can be similar (I'm just feeling off today), or they might require some effort on the part of the sick person to resolve. Either way, you don't treat it as a personality quirk, as that undermines the severity of the issue (it really is a health issue) and implicitly shifts the blame to the person who is sick[0].

> When you start labelling it mental health, all you're doing is self-diagnosing yourself...

I don't see it as any different than self-diagnosing your cold as a physical ailment. Sometimes people are not capable to doing meaningful work due to their mental state, and people should feel comfortable saying that they need a sick day for their mental health.

[0]: Which, it could be their fault. But ideally we want to describe issues without implying blame. But just like you could unable to work due to a hangover, you could knowingly put yourself into a scenario that you know (or should know) will put you in a bad mental state.

Edit: Forgot the dirty laundry quote. I want to comment on that too.

> It's not controversial, there's even a term for it - airing dirty laundry.

Airing dirty laundry is providing "too much information", saying "I need a sick day for mental health" doesn't strike me as an inappropriate amount of detail anymore than "I need a sick day for physical health". I suppose you could shorten it to "I need a sick day" if knowing any more information is too much.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#27
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen some companies in the UK operate what they call a "duvet day" policy. It's basically just two floating holidays a year you can choose to use at any time, doesn't require explanation and doesn't count as a sick day. I personally haven't worked somewhere with such a policy, but know some people who do, using it largely as a "sanity day" as you describe. They really seem to appreciate it. I'm in no way trying…

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think that's called a personal day here in the states. They usually give you two a year too, along with sick days. Though I do agree, that there's stigma towards taking it for personal sanity, mind healing.

Are sick days still a thing?

At my job we get PTO and holidays (floating depending on the year), but no specific sick days.

Apologies for any naivete.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#28
I couldn't afford to do this.

My mental illness is sufficiently severe that I need months, not days, to unpack and unwind, and I haven't felt not-burnt-out in about half a decade. I only get to do this between jobs.

I'm glad that this situation worked out alright for the employee, but there often isn't enough sick leave available.

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