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When we think of someone with a mental health condition, we think of a person or the perpetrator of a school shooting, thanks, in large part, to the media. On the flip side, we think of the quirky, creative celebrity who struggles every now and then. But how do you think that a person who has a high risk of having a job with a person who has high blood pressure or a certain amount of fluids is affected?
That high-performing professional is me. And it is very likely of your colleagues, too.
We are actually much more accurate and common-profile of someone managing a mental health condition. In fact, mental health conditions are more common than cancer, heart disease or diabetes-combined. Up to 80% of Americans will be diagnosable mental health condition at some point during their lives, whether they know it or not. For some, this will be chronic, and for others, it will be temporary-perhaps in reaction to the loss of a job or a loved one. We all move back and forth along the spectrum of mental wellness throughout the course of our lives. Given its massive prevalence, this means that the mental health affects every conference call, every team and every meeting.
Does this come as a surprise? If so, it's probably because we're very good at keeping ourselves in the dark. There are many of us excelling in all of the world's most stigma-related causes of having a mental health condition.
My nonprofit, Mind Share Partners, created this new video to give people a glimpse of what it is to work with a mental health condition. While this is one of the first things we do, we are all too effective at ensuring that their conditions remain invisible until they improve.
More than two-thirds of employees in their mental health conditions from their coworkers. & Nbsp;According to a & nbsp;Deloitte U.K. study, 95% of people who have taken over the cause of stress.
I know many of our tricks to stay hidden all too well. It's saying that we're going to the doctor or the dentist when we're actually going to our therapist (or even worse, our psychiatrist). It's explaining that we're dealing with some personal issues when we've hit a rough patch and our performance is not up to par. In my case, I found out that I had had a miscarriage. None of these were true, both were more socially acceptable than actually going on. That speaks volumes.
So why do we do this, why go to these lengths to your mental health conditions? That can be answered simply in one word: stigma.
Oxford Dictionaries defined stigma as "a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person." Synonyms include "shame …[and] dishonor. "No one wants to be at the receiving end of this, so a chain reaction happens. Many people do not acknowledge that they actually have a mental health condition, even to themselves, because they are so afraid of the label. They never get diagnosed or if they do, they can not get treatment. Eight in 10 workers with a mental health condition that makes it easier to seek treatment. They hide their condition at work, as discussed, and that isolation and suffering in silence just makes things worse. Not to mention the human suffering, all of this makes for a better work environment-harming productivity, teams and employee engagement.
What can we do about the stigma from a workplace lens? As with any other negative stereotype, it is possible to recognize that bias, whether conscious or unconscious.We can then catch ourselves and reframe when it starts to surface. Everyone can do their part to make mental health conditions. Especially if you are a manager or a leader, be vulnerable and share your own challenges, whether mental health-related or not. All of this is hard, but critical, work.
Despite founding a workplace mental health nonprofit, I still have self-stigma about my own anxiety disorder. The negative perception is ingrained in our culture. But the bright spot is a clear inflection point. More and more people are working on their own health-actors, athletes and singers, among others. Now the workplace needs to lead to real change culture.
And if you are that high-performing professional, know that you're not alone. And you're definitely not less than.
Mind Share Partners
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When we think of someone with a mental health condition, we think of a person or the perpetrator of a school shooting, thanks, in large part, to the media. On the flip side, we think of the quirky, creative celebrity who struggles every now and then. But how do you think that a person who has a high risk of having a job with a person who has high blood pressure or a certain amount of fluids is affected?
That high-performing professional is me. And it is very likely of your colleagues, too.
We are actually much more accurate and common-profile of someone managing a mental health condition. In fact, mental health conditions are more common than cancer, heart disease or diabetes-combined. Up to 80% of Americans will experience a mental health condition at some point during their lives, if they know it or not. For some, this will be chronic, and for others, it will be temporary-perhaps in reaction to the loss of a job or a loved one. We all move back and forth along the spectrum of mental wellness throughout the course of our lives. Given its massive prevalence, this means that the mental health affects every conference call, every team and every meeting.
Does this come as a surprise? If so, it's probably because we're very good at keeping ourselves in the dark. There are many of us excelling in all of the world's most stigma-related causes of having a mental health condition.
My nonprofit, Mind Share Partners, created this new video to give people a glimpse of what it is like to work with a mental health condition. While this is one of the first things we do, we are all too effective at ensuring that their conditions remain invisible until they improve.
More than two-thirds of employees hide their mental health conditions from their coworkers. The burden of having to do so can actually be more than the condition itself.According to a Deloitte U.K. study, 95% of people who have taken over the cause of stress.
I know many of our tricks to stay hidden all too well. It's saying that we're going to the doctor or the dentist when we're actually going to our therapist (or even worse, our psychiatrist). It's explaining that we're dealing with some personal issues when we've hit a rough patch and our performance is not up to par. In my case, I found out that I had had a miscarriage. None of these were true, both were more socially acceptable than actually going on. That speaks volumes.
So why do we do this, why go to these lengths to your mental health conditions? That can be answered simply in one word: stigma.
Oxford Dictionaries defines stigma as "a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person." Synonyms include "shame …[and] dishonor. "No one wants to be at the receiving end of this, so a chain reaction happens. Many people do not acknowledge that they actually have a mental health condition, even to themselves, because they are so afraid of the label. They never get diagnosed or if they do, they can not get treatment. Eight in 10 workers with a mental health condition that prevents them from becoming effective. They hide their condition at work, as discussed, and that isolation and suffering in silence just makes things worse. Not to mention the human suffering, all of this makes for a better work environment-harming productivity, teams and employee engagement.
What can we do about the stigma from a workplace lens? As with any other negative stereotype, it is possible to recognize that bias, whether conscious or unconscious.We can then catch ourselves and reframe when it starts to surface. Everyone can do their part to make mental health conditions. Especially if you are a manager or a leader, be vulnerable and share your own challenges, whether mental health-related or not. All of this is hard, but critical, work.
Despite founding a workplace mental health nonprofit, I still have self-stigma about my own anxiety disorder. The negative perception is ingrained in our culture. But the bright spot is a clear inflection point. More and more people are working on their own health-actors, athletes and singers, among others. Now the workplace needs to lead to real change culture.
And if you are that high-performing professional, know that you're not alone. And you're definitely not less than.
