World Mental Health Day 2024: It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace / End the stigma.

World Mental Health Day is  observed on October 10 each year, and  is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health issues and promoting mental well-being globally. Established by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) in 1992, this observance has gained significance over the years, with increasing participation from countries and organizations aiming to combat the stigma associated with mental health, and advocate for better mental health services.but also emphasizes the collective responsibility to create a more inclusive society where mental well-being is valued..

Mental health is a basic human right and is important for personal, community, and socio-economic development. Seeking help is a positive step that enhances health, well-being and happiness. Mental  health is essental for our overall well-  being as it effects how  we feel  and  act. 

The first World Mental Health Day took place on the 10th of October 1992 at the initiative of Richard Hunter, the Deputy Secretary-General of the World Federation for Mental Health. WFMH is an international organisation founded in 1948 to improve and promote good mental health and to encourage better treatment throughout the world. 

World Mental Health Dayserves as a vital platform for various organizations and communities to engage in discussions about mental health challenges, encouraging individuals to seek help when needed. By highlighting the significance of mental health, World Mental Health Day fosters a supportive environment, ensuring that mental health is prioritized alongside physical health, and advocating for universal access to mental health care. 

World Mental Health Day did not have a specific theme until 1994. In this year, the first theme (suggested by the then Secretary-General Eugene Brody), was "Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World"  Each subsequent year has had a different theme, with past themes including "Living with Schizophrenia", Dignity in Mental Health, "Mental Health and Human Rights" and "Psychological First Aid".

This year’s official theme, “It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace"  emphasizes the importance of creating supportive and healthy work environments to address the rising mental health challenges faced by employees globally.  With rising demands on employees, the pressures of stressful and sometimes toxic workplaces continue to escalate.Gone are the days when work and mental health existed in separate bubbles. With burnout, anxiety, and job-related stress all on the rise, they’re intertwined more than ever before. From dealing with chronic stress to depressive episodes, it’s clear that avoiding conversations about mental health at work is no longer optional. This year’s theme serves as a call to action to stop treating mental health as an afterthought, and embed it into the very fabric of workplace culture. 

Workplace stress has hit an all-time high in recent years. Whether it’s grappling with post-pandemic adjustment, rising economic pressures, or the relentless pace of modern work, employees everywhere are feeling the weight. Mental health can no longer be confined to personal lives — it affects job performance, creativity, engagement, and overall life satisfaction., making this focus more critical than ever.  There is also  pressing need to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health issues for a more inclusive society.

Almost 60% of the world’s population is in employment, according to the World Health Organization.(WHO) Of this percentage, 15% of working-age adults believed to have a mental disorder. This, understandably, directly impacts the workplace, as an estimated 12 billion working days are lost each year to mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety

Furthermore according to (WHO), approximately 1 in 4 individuals will face a mental health challenge at some point in their lives, underscoring the widespread impact of this issue. In India alone, around 60 to 70 million people suffer from common mental disorders, exacerbated by a lack of adequate care. The economic cost of neglecting mental health in the workplace is staggering, with depression and anxiety estimated to result in a global productivity loss of around $1 trillion annually. 

World Mental Health Day  serves as a crucial platform to raise awareness about mental health issues and to organize efforts for improving care worldwide. Common events include educational seminars, mental health screenings, and campaigns aimed at reducing stress and encouraging open discussions about mental health. 

Mind charity state "We’re in the middle of a mental health crisis" (2024) as the stigma surrounding mental health is still a significant issue as some 2 million people are on the waiting list for mental health services.

One of the most difficult things about living with a mental illness can be the judgement of others. In fact, nearly a third of all UK adults (30%) would not be comfortable sharing a diagnosis of severe mental illness with a friend. And all too often people experience stigma and discrimination in the work place.

3 in 10 UK adults would reconsider working alongside them if they had a diagnosis of severe mental illness 3 in 5 UK adults wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing a diagnosis of severe mental illness with colleagues and just over half of people (53%) wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing with a manager.

One in four people experience a mental health issue in the UK every year and over 527,000 people in England have a diagnosis of a severe mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 

I think raising awareness about conditions and treatments is crucial, but so is re-addressing the way we think about mental illness as not just an individual's problem but as something we must consider and address collectively in the way our society functions.

We feel such huge pressures to feel we fit in somewhere, but actually it is so much more important to accept yourself whether you feel you fit in or not, after all you are the only person who will ever get to define who you are. 

Among the most menacing barriers to the social progress we need around mental health are the profound levels of guilt, shame and stigma that surround these issues. Mental illness scares us and shames us. Those who suffer are often, like me, ashamed to speak of it. Those who are lucky enough to be free of mental illness are terrified of it. When it comes to mental illness, we still don't quite get how it all works.

Our treatments, while sometimes effective, often are not. And the symptoms, involving a fundamental breakdown of our perceived reality, are existentially terrifying. There is something almost random about physical illness, in how it comes upon us , a physical illness can strike anyone – and that is almost comforting. But  mental illness seems  to fall into that same category, the fact  it too could strike any of us, without warning should be equally recognised..

But more than simple fear, mental illness brings out a judgmental streak that would be unthinkably grotesque when applied to physical illness. Imagine telling someone with a broken leg to "snap out of it." 

Imagine that a death by cancer was accompanied by the same smug headshaking that so often greets death by suicide. Mental illness is so qualitatively different that we feel it permissible to be judgmental. We might even go so far as to blame the sufferer. Because of the  stigma involved  it often leaves us much sicker. Capitalist society also teaches us that we are each personally responsible for our own success.  A system of blame that somehow makes the emotional and psychological difficulties we encounter seem to be our own fault. 

This belief is such a firm part of ruling class ideology that millions of people who would never openly articulate this idea, nonetheless accept it in subtle and overt ways.  People are often ashamed that they need medication, seeing this as revealing some constitutional weakness. People feel guilty about needing therapy, thinking that they should be able to solve their problems on their own.

Millions of people fail to seek any treatment, because mental health care is seen as something that only the most dramatically unstable person would turn to. An ill-informed and damaging attitude among some people exists around mental health that can make it difficult for some to seek help. It is estimated that only about a quarter of people with a mental health problem in the UK receive ongoing treatment, leaving the majority of people grappling with mental health issues on their own, seeking help or information, and dependent on the informal support of family, friends or colleagues.
We need to break the silence around mental health. These are issues that all of us should have some basic exposure to.  The proportion of the population that will experience an episode of acute emotional distress is extremely high. Those of us who have never been depressed probably know and love several people who have.It  should be no more shameful to say that one is suffering from mental illness , than to announce that one is asthmatic or has breast cancer.  Talking about these issues is part of the solution.

Breaking the silence can be liberating. Mental health care should be part of what we demand when we think about solutions to the economic crisis, we should keep  fighting for the best mental health care to be the  natural right of all designed to meet human needs. Until then, engaging in the struggle toward such a society can be a source of hope. That is a world surely worth fighting for.

 It’s up to all of us to end the harmful cycle of stigma.  Let’s end the judgement. Let’s Rethink Mental Illness.