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Have you ever suspected someone on your payroll suffers from a mental
disorder? Good guess. The massive report on mental health issued in December
by the U.S. Surgeon General (www.mentalhealth.org) concluded that 22% of
Americans suffer from some form of mental illness "at any given time,"
defining the term as "alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior...associated
with distress or impaired functioning." That means that roughly one in
six employees has some kind of problem that most likely affects your company even
if you don't realize how. These aren't people who talk to the walls; most
of them are valued workers whose productivity suddenly and mysteriously
plummets.
What exactly are employees experiencing if they suffer from common
psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety? While it's not precisely
your problem, an empathic understanding of mental disorders can improve
your management of troubled employees.
In the bible for mental health professionals, the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), depression and "depression-lite" (officially
dubbed dysthmia) along with bipolar disorder (formerly manic-depression)
are classified as mood disorders. Besides a low mood, clinical depression
typically includes several of the following symptoms: insomnia, feelings
of excessive guilt, recurrent thoughts of suicide, rapid weight gain or
loss (say, 5% of body weight in a month), and irritability.
Another characteristic of depression, which afflicts about 7%
of the adult population, is a reluctance to acknowledge it. "Depression
creeps up slowly, and sometimes as long as a decade can go by before a
patient seeks treatment," says Ronald Kessler, Ph.D. of Harvard Medical
School.
Anxiety disorders, in contrast, often compel patients to rush
off to the doctor with symptoms that are frequently quite dramatic. Among
them: a pounding heart, shortness of breath, chest pain and dizziness.
Despite the very high incidence of anxiety disorders--it strikes about
15% of adults-- it may take a while before a patient is properly diagnosed.
"I usually recommend a complete physical as a first step in order to rule
out an organic cause, " says Jerilyn Ross, M.S.W., president of the Anxiety
Disorders Association of America.
Yes, psychiatric disorders are simply "in the heads" of your workers,
but that doesn't mean they aren't real. "A healthy mind in a healthy body,"
goes the old Latin proverb. And healthy minds are naturally bound to produce
healthier profits for your company.
Table: Getting Help
For more information on psychiatric disorders and their treatment,
check out the following resources:
National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association
800-826-3632
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
301-231-9350; www.adaa.org
National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
800-433-5959; www.nmha.org
The Mental Health Jumplist on the NHMA web site provides links to dozens
of additional mental health sites.
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