World Mental Health Day fell on Tuesday, October 10, with this year’s theme looking at fostering mental well-being at the workplace.
Mental well-being, it is said, is not the absence of mental illness. It is not simply feeling happy. It is, rather, the ability to cope with the day-to-day stresses of life, work productively, interact positively with others and realize one’s own potential.
Given this definition it is easy to see how few workplaces across the country could try to establish a good environment for their workers to thrive, much less deal with any illnesses like depression, anxiety or other forms of disorder.
Mental wellbeing has a direct effect on the productivity of workers. Adults in their productive years spend a good part of their waking hours in their workplaces. If these cannot offer some sort of solace for them, or worse if their workplaces aggravates their mental health issues, then we can just imagine the quality of life they would lead.
Many tend to be dismissive of mental health issues. There are many other problems that need attending to, those who do not know any better say.
There are also those who use “mental health” just so they could say or do as they please. They do a big disservice to those legitimately dealing with their own conditions.
The problem is, it is often difficult to tell.
The lack of awareness and the abundance of misconceptions on mental health are perhaps the biggest setbacks we face in this issue. We must all take the time to overcome our ignorance about mental health—issues here are an insidious affliction that threatens our ability to realize our full potential.