When the Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt finally broke silence over his acute depression that led to the heavy use of marijuana and at times suicidal tendencies, many mental health organisations were quick to heap praises on him. At last, someone so high profile had spoken about the “elephant in room” in Hollywood which subsequently saw over 30 celebrities admitting to serious bouts of depression that nearly ruined their careers.

However, another gifted actor, Robin Williams was not so lucky; after battling depression and dementia for years, he committed suicide in 2014. His wife, Susan Schneider described the disease as “the terrorist inside my husband’s brain”.

Closer home, Bollywood star Deepika Padukone’s sudden revelations of her struggles with anxiety and depression came as a shock to many. She, however, came out of the shell to seek professional guidance and medical help.

Unfortunately, not many are so fortunate. The number of people in India suffering from mental health issues “was greater than the population of Japan”, according to President Ram Nath Kovind who revealed this alarming statistic. Seemingly, India is on the verge of a mental health epidemic with employees across the corporate sector bearing the brunt of it.

Depression among employees is a big cause of lost productivity. Recent surveys by Optum and 1to1help.net, two companies engaged in employee assistance programmes, say that “the number of workers, severely depressed or vulnerable to taking their lives, is increasing.”

Causes for depression

Most of them are depressed by work, money and family issues. Surveys conclude that as much as 50 per cent of India’s workforce suffers from some form of stress and of these, as much as 8 per cent are showing a high tendency to commit suicide.

We are sitting on a time bomb which needs to be defused. Corporate India needs to rethink in terms of the work style, work hours and opportunities at workplace. In effect, many suffer from extreme stress as a consequence of pressure related to jobs, that may even border on paranoia and tendency to contemplate suicide.

A recent study by industry body Assocham concluded that more and more professionals were experiencing workplace fatigue, sleep disorders and a general feeling of ‘poor health’. Unfortunately, such surveys also reveal that companies or HR departments seldom make any attempt to gauge employers from their mental health perspective.

Seniors in supervisory roles are ill-equipped to cope with or respond to such scenarios. What’s more, hardly an Indian corporate has established any policy that deals with the mental health status of an employee.

This is important as Indian millennials spend more time at work than their counterparts in 25 other countries, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Indian workplace is highly competitive with very little or no sensitivity towards the mentally unfit or those who have issues with performance. Employees might not be keen to seek treatment, fearing that it would jeopardise their career and even personal life.

Let’s understand a few things about depression in general; not many would experience a clinical depression in the same way, making it difficult for us to understand or read the signs.

However, common signs include difficulty in concentrating, making decisions, a visible change in performance, inconsistent productivity, increasing errors and diminished work quality, and overly sensitive reactions, according to the WHO guidelines.

The symptoms of depression could be unlike what you have heard or seen before. At any stage, if the conversation becomes uncomfortable for the employee, he or she should be referred to a more clinically trained person.

Every employer must introspect his/her organisation from some of the key adverse mental health standpoints — as laid down by the WHO; these are inadequate health and safety policies, poor communication and management practices, low control over one’s area of work and low levels of support for employees.

Corporate India must keep its eyes and ears open to detect and recognise depression among its staff, intervene at the right time, support them with all kinds of programmes and help them to be productive. It will be no mean task, but nonetheless one with truly altruistic results.

The writer is MD, Muthoot Healthcare

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