Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. It is an issue that affects many lives; and it's found nearly anywhere and almost impossible to hide. It's found in communities and spotted in the workplace. A contribution to discrimination is mental illness. Over 9.5% of the adult population in the United States will suffer from a depressive illness ("Depression"), 6% will suffer from anxiety disorder ("Mental Health Problems in the Workplace") and 40% will suffer from schizophrenia (Brohan, par. 14). Mental illness in a working environment varies from depression to anxiety to schizophrenia. Many incidents regarding mental illness often occur in the workplace because employees don't know how to handle the situation and are unfamiliar on how to manage someone with a mental disorder. In the United States we commonly see a large population of the unemployed living on the streets. One may notice their lack of mental stability. It's possible they were fired from their job due to their conditions and were unable to find employment ever since. Discrimination is playing a major role. I worked an average of 25-40 hours a week making a living on my own becoming independent. I knew the earning of a dollar and the struggle to make it in Los Angeles; I worked hard every day making a name for myself. Then I was diagnosed with severe depression and moderate anxiety, I didn’t let that get to me as I thought of it as another bump in the road. I didn't inform my superior because I believed I had my illness under control. However I was wrong, one day at work I had an episode in which I started slowly losing my mind, I didn't know what triggered it; ... ... middle of paper ... ... Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. Lugo, Salvador. Personal Interview. 21 April 2014. "Mental Health Problems in the Workplace." Mental Health Problems in the Workplace. Harvard University, Feb. 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. United States. Office on Women’s Health. "Americans with Disabilities Act and Mental illness." Office on Women's Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 March 2010 United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Depression." National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion | Division of Population Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 October 2013. Silcox, Sarah. "Closing The Gap On Mental Health At Work." Occupational Health 66.3 (2014): 15-17. Business Source Complete. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
U.S. Public Health Service.(1999). The Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health. Retrieved June,5,2000, from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html
"The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America." NIMH RSS. National Institute of Mental Health, n.d. Web. 07 May 2014.
"NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.
The discussion of mental health is slowly being brought to the social surface to create a more inclusive society for those dealing with a mental illness. However, those with a mental illness are continuously being affected by stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination by those who simply don’t comprehend the complexity of the human brain (Glaser, G.2017). As more people become mental health activist, they are exposing the plethora of issues surrounding the overall mental and physical stability of those who are negatively affected by the social construct of what it means to be normal.
...2011). Are you causing your staff mental injury? Canadian Business, 84(1/2), 71. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database (AN: 57410420)
Deep-seated psychological and sociological mechanisms give rise to prejudice against people with illnesses. While some or all of these mechanisms also contribute to discrimination against other minority groups, their operation in the context of illness has unique characteristics that make affliction prejudice extremely difficult to identify and eradicate.
I will begin with what I remember of my experience of learning I have mental health illness. I remember suffering heavily through my early teens to my twenties with depression. I had tried at that time just about every type of depression medication available and none of them worked on me. It wasn't until I was in my twenties that my depression just kind of went away. I thought I was done with suffering from mental health problems, but I would be wrong.
NASMHPD. (2014, Accessed April 27). Retrieved from NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM DIRECTORS: http://www.nasmhpd.org/About/AOMultiStateDisaster.aspx
Kahn, Ada P., and Jan Fawcett. The Encyclopedia of Mental Health. 2nd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2001.
"NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI. National Alliance on Mental Illness, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.
An article that was written by Bill Wilkerson, CEO of Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, conducted a survey to find the top ten workplace stressors. In a report submitted to the Industrial Accident Prevention Association, Wilkerson listed the following ten reasons for workplace stress and after each one is an brief explanation of how better communication could remedy the situation.
Mental health is defined, according to the Oxford Dictionary, as a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. The idea of mental health is constantly subject to changes based on social values and beliefs of individual responsibility. Perceptions of the topic change more than any other category of clinically recognized issues. Many people believe mental illnesses are not as severe as individuals claim and can be fixed by just a change of mindset, forcing people affected to adapt without guidance or aid. Society cannot fully grasp what mental health and related illnesses are and the degree of their effects on the day to day life of individuals, which is why people affected face many stigmas. The lack of knowledge
Increasingly, good mental health in the workplace is an issue being raised. Job stresses are being recognized as affecting work performance and also an individual’s over-all well-being. There is a lot of information available about how to promote good mental health in the workplace but perhaps insufficient initiatives actually being used. Providing employees with information promoting good mental health alerts them to the problems but may not achieve the solutions. Within the larger society good physical health is overwhelmingly accepted as the first step to good mental health. Can mental health issues in the workplace be addressed in the same way, by
Human resources will need to place emphasis on employee wellness my initiating programs that “include work-life balance processes, stress management, and therapy programs, and facilitating an open dialogue about mental health and illness to remove much of the stigma that plagues the conversation and ailments (Guppta, 2016).” By utilizing flexible work schedule options, demanding jobs with high-stress levels are possible because employees’ free time does not have to be sacrificed.
The most common causes of unemployment are getting fired and layed off for specific reasons. People might get layed off if a company is going out of business or maybe if there are positions in the company that are no longer needed. It’s difficult to find a job right away after being fired. Companies don’t want to hire someone who has just been fired for reasons such as failure to do a sufficient job, not showing up to work, stealing, etc. It’s also hard to find a job instantly after being layed off. In some cases the economy is down and it is hard to find any work in general.