Workplace plays a key role in mental health, say experts

With at least one in three South African adults likely to experience a mental health disorder in their lifetimes and employed people spending the bulk of their hours at work, experts believe that work can be both good and bad for mental health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks depression as the leading cause of disability and ill-health worldwide. A 2016 study found that lost productivity due to depression-related absenteeism and presenteeism costs the South African economy about R232bn a year, or 5.7% of GDP (in 2016 terms), while the WHO estimates the global economic cost of untreated depression at US$1-trillion annually.

In 2024, World Mental Health Day is being observed under the theme “It’s time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”.

The South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) member and psychiatrist Dr Siki Gwanya-Mdletye said good, meaningful work and mentally healthy work environments are beneficial for protecting mental health as well as helping recovery from mental illness.

“Prioritising mental health in the workplace not only improves individual employees’ wellbeing but supports organisational performance and economic growth,” she said.

Gwanya-Mdletye said that strengthening the mental health aspect of workplace health services could offer an innovative solution to the country’s large mental health treatment gap, which sees 75% of those with common mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety go untreated.

Given South Africa’s high prevalence of mental illness and the substantial treatment gap, she believes the workplace can also provide a good location for structured interventions to supplement the under-resourced community level of mental healthcare.

“Such interventions need to go beyond feel-good pamper sessions and spa-days at work, as lovely as these may be,” she said.

Medical manager at Netcare Akeso, Dr Lerato Motshudi, said mental health is an essential component of happiness, and employers have a vested interest in promoting awareness and addressing misperceptions about mental health.

“Our mental health determines our self-esteem, how we think, connect with others, deal with stress, and our performance in many other daily activities,” she said.

Motshudi said while it is easy to want to believe that mental illness could never happen to us, our loved ones, or our valued colleagues, it can happen to anyone.

She said one in five people has suicidal thoughts in their lifetime. 

“Many more people silently struggle with other mental health issues that hold them back from fulfilling their true potential in all spheres of life,” she said.

Motshudi said a mental health crisis such as a panic attack can suddenly occur in someone who has been fully functional — yet without the necessary support it can ultimately impair their ability to continue to cope in future.

“Even among people who are psychologically healthy, taking time to look after your emotional and mental health has benefits for your physical health, resilience in tough situations, the quality of your relationships, and in the workplace this tends to manifest in productivity, creativity and engagement levels,” she said.

Megan Gonsalves, Netcare Akeso’s Crisis Line manager, said it must be ensured that everyone knows how to recognise when they or someone in their circle may need support and how to access mental health services.

“Due to outdated ideas and stigma associated with mental health, unfortunately, sometimes people don’t feel comfortable opening up about how they are feeling when they notice they start experiencing difficulties. In such instances, the person tends to go unsupported and often seeks professional help only when their condition has worsened and the situation feels like it has spiralled out of control,” she said.

Gonsalves said mental health should never be stigmatised or be perceived to have career-limiting consequences. 

“With greater awareness of mental health and employers doing their part to promote a culture of understanding and openness without fear of judgment, this need not be the case. This being said, discretion and respect for the privacy of the person are as important in mental health matters as they are for other medical conditions, perhaps even more so because of stigma,” she said.

Motshudi said recognising that we, ourselves, or someone we know, maybe struggling with mental health requires some knowledge of how the wide spectrum of psychiatric conditions can affect behaviour.

“Early signs of illness are often nondescript, and the individual or people around them may notice that they ‘are not themselves’, sometimes in quite subtle ways,” she said.

Gwanya-Mdletye said that a greater mental health focus in employee wellness programmes and workplace-based healthcare services held a number of benefits, starting with early detection and referral for treatment.

“Ideally, responsible work-based mental health interventions should broaden their reach at the very least to the families of the employees they serve, and possibly to their immediate communities if resources allow,” she said. 

Six possible mental health warning signs

1. Change in eating patterns ­— This may or may not be noticeable in weight loss or weight gain.
2. Sleeping noticeably more or less than usual.
3. Changes in mood — “The person may feel more irritable than usual or show aggression, sadness, or other signs that are out of character, persisting over weeks and perhaps not an expected response to life events,” said Motshudi.
4. Struggling to solve simple problems that usually would be manageable.
5. Loss of desire to do activities previously enjoyed.
6. Acting differently ­— “If someone suddenly becomes socially withdrawn or displays a marked departure from their usual behaviour such as making illogical decisions or taking unnecessary risks, these are changes worth noting,” she said.

However, Motshudi said it is important to remember that any of these warning signs can be present in anyone without signifying the presence of mental illness. 

TimesLIVE