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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

#101

Post by jkaunisv1 »

intheletter1 wrote: post #23
BadassFractal wrote: post #10

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 g…

There's never going to be one factor that gets you out. It's a combination of tools working together that makes it livable. For me it's meds, exercise and social contact.

Meds might help your present chemical situation but they're not going to change the mental ruts & habits your brain has formed (eg. I'm stressed, I want a cookie/beer/etc. I made a mistake, I'm so stupid).

Therapy can help you understand and notice those patterns, why they formed, and what you can do to gradually correct them, but you'll have a hard time if you're going uphill against your brain chemistry.

This book really helped give me a framework for understanding the exercise part of it: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Full-Engagement-Managing-Perfor...

And of course, like physical pain, in some situations mental illness is a signal the body is sending that something in life isn't right. I've had some serious depressive episodes evaporate as soon as I broke off a toxic relationship (personal or professional).

Happy to chat more in private if you want.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#102

Post by calafrax »

paulddraper wrote: post #78
calafrax wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medically speaking a mental illness is no different than a physical illness. Mental illness does not have to be severe just as physical illness does not have to be severe. Sick leave policies typically only require a doctors note/visit if you are absent for multiple days. Taking a single day off for mild mental illness, something like elevated stress levels causing anxiety that interrupts your sleep, seems perfectly…

> Medically speaking a mental illness is no different than a physical illness. I'm sympathetic, but don't make the discussion worse by throwing falsehoods like this around. Besides the fact expressed by others that physically illness is more diagnosable, you typically don't get mentally ill from being in proximity to a mentally ill person. (At least, I never have.) Physical illness is a different situation. That's wh…

Sorry, I should have been more precise: they are both recognized as treatable illnesses by the health care professionals, the government and insurance companies.

In the sense that you can go to a doctor, get diagnosed, get treatment, get that treatment paid for by an insurance company and get legal protections under laws applying to health care they are "no different."

Since we are talking about how corporate HR policies apply to mental health and not the philosophy of medicine I would argue that these are the similarities that actually matter.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#103

Post by npizzolato »

omegaworks wrote: post #99
phil21 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're generally correct for the folks who have decent salaried careers. If I got asked to justify a regular random day or two I took off as PTO I'd tell HR to pound sand as anyone rightfully should. Get into hourly low wage stuff and you are treated like children, many shops require a doctor's note for any and all absences with 1 or 2 dermits until you're fired. This has reasons from both ends of course. When I was…

>by the low-wage masses abusing it (and abuse it they did). This feeds directly into the popular narrative that the working poor somehow lack moral fortitude. Do you have evidence to justify this claim?

It was pretty clear he was talking about his own experiences. Does he need evidence to justify his claim that management also abused their powers?

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#104

Post by paulddraper »

coldtea wrote: post #89
paulddraper wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Medically speaking a mental illness is no different than a physical illness. I'm sympathetic, but don't make the discussion worse by throwing falsehoods like this around. Besides the fact expressed by others that physically illness is more diagnosable, you typically don't get mentally ill from being in proximity to a mentally ill person. (At least, I never have.) Physical illness is a different situation. That's wh…

> you typically don't get mentally ill from being in proximity to a mentally ill person. (At least, I never have.) You also don't get physically ill from being in proximity to someone with a non-contagious disease or a sprained ankle, so that's an irrelevant distinction. Sick days are not just for flus and colds that are contagious...

> Sick days are not just for flus and colds that are contagious...

Agreed. I meant to mention that.

> so that's an irrelevant distinction.

Flus and colds are by far the most common uses of sick days, so I wouldn't say it's "irrelevant."

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#105

Post by omegaworks »

npizzolato wrote: post #103
omegaworks wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>by the low-wage masses abusing it (and abuse it they did). This feeds directly into the popular narrative that the working poor somehow lack moral fortitude. Do you have evidence to justify this claim?

It was pretty clear he was talking about his own experiences. Does he need evidence to justify his claim that management also abused their powers?

> It was pretty clear he was talking about his own experiences.

And I'd like him to elaborate on those, rather than make a broad generalization. Thanks.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#106

Post by wu-ikkyu »

clfougner wrote: post #96
wu-ikkyu wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Medically speaking a mental illness is no different than a physical illness. I am a proponent of taking time off for mental health, but I have to nitpick here. Medically speaking, physical illness is different from mental illness. One is diagnosed from objective scientific tests (pathology) while the other is not.

Afraid that's not true. Around 60-80% of diagnoses in primary care settings are made purely on the basis of the patient history (followed by a brief clinical examination which usually aims at eliciting subjective responses)[1]. In principle it's true that you could find a pathological explanation for all somatic ("physical") diseases which in practice are diagnosed off patient histories (with the exception of disease…

>fibromyalgia, IBS, CFS

There are objective tests for all of these pathologies, though those tests are often inconclusive in the face of the symptoms.

>If you don't think there's a physical basis for mental illnesses though, skim through the figures in this article[2] for a prime example of the ways modern medicine is disproving that.

There are physical symptoms of mental illness, but as yet there is no proof of physical causes, which is why the chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine and the DSM-4 stated "psychiatric diagnosis still relies exclusively on fallible subjective judgments rather than objective biological tests". You'll find no objective biological tests in the DSM.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Frances

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#108

Post by lazyasciiart »

siliconc0w wrote: post #60

There is a kinda secret code for OOO or WFH emails that managers should respect. Definitely got to "Respect the code" (say in a pirate voice). As a manager I'd write purposely vague emails to contribute to this, "Sorry will be late, got jumped by a gang of ninjas" because I really don't like to set a cultural tone that isn't trusting of employees. I basically need to know you aren't going to be here but I don't need…

I decided years ago to avoid detail in "I'm sick" emails, because I don't want to one day think "do I need to say I have horrendous diarrhea, or can i just say I'm sick?"

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#109

Post by calafrax »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #62
calafrax wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medically speaking a mental illness is no different than a physical illness. Mental illness does not have to be severe just as physical illness does not have to be severe. Sick leave policies typically only require a doctors note/visit if you are absent for multiple days. Taking a single day off for mild mental illness, something like elevated stress levels causing anxiety that interrupts your sleep, seems perfectly…

>Medically speaking a mental illness is no different than a physical illness. I am a proponent of taking time off for mental health, but I have to nitpick here. Medically speaking, physical illness is different from mental illness. One is diagnosed from objective scientific tests (pathology) while the other is not.

A doctor administered evaluation or a patient self-survey is just as objective as any other test.

These tests take a measurement and based on peer-reviewed statistical studies make a determination as to whether or not the measurement falls into a pathological range.

This is exactly the same as measuring blood pressure or cholesterol. You read a number and decide if there is a statistically valid correlation between that number and an identified disease.

Re: Mental health is still an issue in the workplace

#110

Post by 086421357909764 »

nassir wrote: post #95

I have started a remote work week business that allows office teams to work together in a tranquil, nature-filled rural environment for a week and get away from the hustle and bustle of urban cities. The response has been really good. Reach out to me: topconsultant@gmail.com

So a remote work office that you rent? Also, that email alone screams questionable to me.
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