Mental health is a luxury many can’t afford
Mental health ≠Physical health for now, far from it, in some situations, it is considered a ‘nice to have’.
From my personal experience (although rather benign), I have realized that every step of the way, a person faced with mental health issues is forced to reckon with the financial, reputational and other fallouts while navigating his way through this maze.
These days we quite often hear that mental health is just as important as physical health. Globally, it is recognized that access to mental health care is a fundamental human right. WHO has declared it as “a global human rights emergency”. But none of this has brought us any closer to practically changing things on-ground, for employees or other affectees. Globally, around 10.7% of the population suffers from some mental health disorder, and women are disproportionately more likely to suffer.
If things are to change, we need to put our money where our mouth is and undertake fundamental shifts in our approach to mental health; it needs to start from governments and corporates.
- Access to Mental Health breaks (MHBs):
Employees should have access to mental health breaks just like they have access to ‘sick leave’. When someone has a fever / sore throat, their GP can write them sick leave, but that does not apply to someone who is suffering from panic, anxiety, depression, or any other mental health-related issue. They are supposed to either exhaust their annual leave or ‘man up’.
A ‘casual leave’ is no replacement for MHBs, it undermines both the importance and seriousness of this issue and an extension of sick leave implies that a person is sick whereas they might want to take a break to evade burnout.
- Lightening the financial burden:
Let’s face it; psychology consultations / cognitive behavioural therapies are expensive. A person can expect to pay over $100/hour, if not covered by insurance. Companies seem to save premiums by limiting coverage of mental health. In the United States, a law passed in 2008 requires psychological and physical health parity. It aims to ensure that “if mental health benefits are offered, they can’t have more restrictive requirements than those that apply to physical health benefits.”
In some other countries, companies are allowed to have their way. Some insurance coverages require up to 25% co-payments on mental health check-ups and medicines and additionally have a cap on total mental health allowance. Add this to the already stressful situation of the sufferer, and we will realize that, as it stands, mental healthcare is a luxury, not a right.
More countries (and companies) need to ensure parity between the provision of and access to physical and psychological health.
- Changing the culture
The stigma attached to mental health in our societies is, by far, the most pressing of all challenges. Imagine an employee taking a break from work for mental health reasons; if the culture in the company is not right, he/she will make an ‘excuse’ rather than sharing their actual suffering, worsening their plight. Employees might think that sharing their pain might ‘cloud’ their competence.
Adoption of MHBs in companies by CXOs and senior executives will encourage operational staff to be open about their issues too. Employees would feel taken care of and would be more productive.
Until we get there and for as long as mental health-related issues remain a taboo, we can all help ourselves and those around us by incorporating mental health fitness into our regimen and being kind to others. As we approach the World Meditation day on 21st May, let’s block some time daily / weekly to meditate, to declutter our minds of the daily hustle, and to recharge our souls before we ‘run out of gas’.
