PETALING JAYA: Mental health conditions, often hidden or unspoken, are as important as physical health issues, experts say.

Conditions like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia can significantly impact employees’ well-being and productivity, leading to serious consequences if left untreated.

Eve Psychosocial Rehabilitation Centre general manager Rozana Anthony said employees with mental health issues may become less engaged in their work and experience a lack of motivation or morale.

“They may also take frequent days off, isolate themselves and exhibit mood swings.

“Those with mental health issues or burnout will never come out to say it because it would seem unprofessional,” she said.

“But having a mental issue doesn’t mean they are not functioning, you will not even know they have issues. But we need to break the stigma, we need to be more aware about these issues.”

Citing someone who has bipolar, Rozana said the signs and symptoms vary for each person.

She said in most cases people may not even know someone is bipolar if they are taking the right medication.

They will only know if they stop and symptoms start emerging and go into relapse, she added.

Building trust between employers and employees is crucial in addressing mental health issues.

By creating a safe and accepting environment, employees can feel comfortable discussing their concerns and seeking appropriate support, Rozana said.

“There are a lot of companies coming up with mental health breaks, conducting training, conferences and talks but these are more on surface levels like ticking the boxes,” she added.

Among other ways companies can help is to offer a year scheme with a capped amount for employees to seek help from mental health practitioners and retain a company counsellor that can be accessed by employees as and when needed.

Clinical psychologist Dr Noor Aishah Rosli said providing workplace counsellors is highly beneficial as it allows employees access to mental health support by normalising seeking help and improving overall well-being, job satisfaction and retention.

She said counsellors can also help monitor their progress based on emotion or behaviour.

“Some of the causes of mental health issues at the workplace such as high workload, lack of control, unclear expectations or toxic environments can cause stress or depression.

“You need a psychologist or counsellor at work setting to recognise changes in behaviour, cause of absenteeism or reasons for underperformance to spot the issues.

“Psychological assessment or screening tests to measure emotion and behaviour can help address such issues and reduce them,” she said.

Noor Aishah added that offices could also create quiet spaces by creating a corner or “mental health corner” with massage chairs, big balls and stress balls infused with aromatherapy to create a calming effect.

According to Noor Aishah, those with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or bipolar disorder can function well by managing their symptoms by using certain coping strategies and medication consistently.

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023: Non-Communicable Diseases and Healthcare Demand, about one million people aged 15 years old and above were found to be suffering from depression.

The survey also found that the prevalence of mental health problems among children had jumped from 7.9% in 2019 to 16.5% in 2023, affecting one in six children aged five to 15 in Malaysia.

Recently a study by a human resource company called Remote ranked Malaysia as the second worst country for work-life balance.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/10/07/experts-its-as-vital-as-physical-health