On March 16, shootings at three Atlanta area spas left eight people dead, and on a recent Monday, a shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, killed 10.
If it can happen there, we are all at risk.
We can’t wear a mask to protect ourselves from that. As out of control as COVID feels, we understand if we wear masks and maintain distance, we could play a role in our own safety.
Behind every terrorism and mental health case, there were lots of opportunities for intervention that were missed. 80% of perpetrators show signs of crisis behavior. After mass shootings, people lament the warning signs that were missed or the ones that were seen but never led to intervention.
Companies are ramping up their efforts to navigate the mental health epidemic that has become exacerbated by the pandemic. Starting workplace conversations about behavioral health is challenging. Such conditions are often seen as a personal failing rather than a medical condition.
However, work affects mental health. According to Mind Share Partners’ Mental Health at Work, 2019 Report, 61% of workers said their productivity was affected by their mental health. 37% of workers said their work environment contributed to their symptoms.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Mental health conditions are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That means employers must make reasonable accommodations for workers with such disorders to perform their responsibilities. However, employees must be willing to divulge their need for modifications.
Supervisors might think someone who’s regularly late for work and misses deadlines is lazy. But when managers know that the individual is dealing with a mental health issue, they may be able to adjust the employee’s schedule or allow the person to work from home, for example.
This is a Shared Responsibility
Research has shown that a number of actions can be taken by society, institutions, and individuals to help prevent mass shootings. These include better access to mental health care, background checks, more suicide prevention training in workplaces and schools, and empowering people to spot someone in crisis. In fact, for the past 12 months, I helped a client navigate this with an employee who was really struggling.
It is time to have real conversations about how we can prevent people earlier on.
The Violence Project defines a mass shooting as four or more people killed in a public space where the perpetrator does not have a relationship with the victims.
These shootings appear to be emerging again, highlighting even more the already existing need to pay attention to mental health in the workplace as well. The Violence Project’s research shows there are many similarities in perpetrator profiles that provide predictable entry points to cut someone off from violence. Data also shows gun violence is disproportionately a male problem.
Researchers found early childhood trauma among mass shooters. Perpetrators often lack access to mental health care and peer support. They develop poor coping skills and build to a crisis point. Many are suicidal. Mass shooters often develop a grievance with the world and find someone else to blame. They spend time on the internet engaging with others who validate their grievances. They acquire access to a chosen location to engage in mass violence, and they acquire the guns to do it.
My own niece’s father committed suicide with one of his own guns when she was only two.
Everyone has to think about how you cut this off at any one of those points along the pathway. This is where corporate responsibility enters the scene.
The intersection of mental health and leadership is one I’ve studied almost as long as I’ve practiced HR over the last 22 years. If you want a good book recommendation, pick up a copy of “A First Rate Madness” by Nassir Ghaemi, which looks at the relationship between madness and genius. The book dives into the links between mental illness and leadership and how those suffering from certain conditions may be the right person to lead during a time of crisis.
It shows that mental health concerns affect everyone.
Consider that:
- In the workplace, mental illness remains a largely taboo subject.
- A majority of employees—68 percent—worry that reaching out about a mental health issue could negatively impact their job security, according to a 2019 study by Businessolver, a West Des Moines, Iowa-based health benefits administrator.
- Although 50 percent of employees overall (and 60 percent of Millennial employees) reported having had a mental health lapse, only one-third of those employees reached out to their employer.
- Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience some form of mental illness every year, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation in Washington, D.C. reports.
- Mental health expenses jumped by more than 10 percent annually over five years, compared with an annual increase of 5 percent for other medical costs, according to a study conducted by Aetna Behavioral Health.
- Treating depression alone costs $110 billion annually, and half of that cost is shouldered by employers.
- Companies spent $2.6 billion on opioid addiction in 2016—an eightfold increase since 2004, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported last year.
- Meanwhile, more people are taking their own lives.
- Suicide rates rose 33 percent, to 14 per 100,000 people up from 10.5 per 100,000 people, from 1999 through 2017, the last year for which figures were available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- One reason: Many younger workers are stressed, depressed or anxious.
- The proportion of workers with symptoms of depression rose 18 percent from 2014 to 2018.
- Among members of Generation Z and Millennials, depression symptoms increased at an even faster rate, jumping 39 percent and 24 percent, respectively, according to New York City-based technology company Happify Health.
- Such diseases cause changes in emotions, thinking or behavior that can lead to problems carrying out basic functions.
- Experts believe that mental illnesses are caused by genetic, social and environmental factors, or some combination.
- Anxiety and depression are among the most common conditions.
- Suicide rates rose 33 percent, to 14 per 100,000 people up from 10.5 per 100,000 people, from 1999 through 2017, the last year for which figures were available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What Can Your Company Do?
- Enhance your employee assistance programs.
- Implement a tele-therapy program.
- HR practitioners must engage in open dialogue with business owners regarding employees exhibiting signs that may be cause for concern.
- Accommodate Workers with Addiction and Mental Health Condition.
- Learn the do’s and don’ts of employing those with mental health disabilities.
- Facilitate Inclusion Initiatives for different demographic groups.
- HR Forms: ADA Reasonable Accommodation Checklist.
Types of Mental Illness
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is the uneasiness that individuals feel when thinking about a future event they fear won’t end well. But to be diagnosed with one of the several disorders such as a phobia, the fear must be out of proportion to the situation or age-inappropriate, while also hindering the patient’s ability to function normally. Individuals suffering from anxiety disorders often try to avoid situations that trigger or worsen their symptoms, potentially risking their job performance and personal relationships. Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness, affecting nearly 30 percent of adults at some point in their lives.
Major Depressive Disorder
This condition affects how patients feel, think and act, and it can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. Symptoms include a loss of interest in once-enjoyed activities; changes in appetite; dwindling energy; feelings of worthlessness; and difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions. Symptoms may resemble those of grief and sadness. However, depression symptoms last for at least two weeks, while grief and sadness come in waves. Depression affects about 1 in 15 adults annually, and 1 in 6 people will experience it during their life.
Bipolar Disorders
Bipolar disorders are brain disorders that cause “mood episodes,” or extreme and intense emotional states that occur at distinct times and can cause changes in a person’s behavior, energy level and ability to function. Such episodes are generally interspersed with normal moods.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects less than 1 percent of the U.S. population. Symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and lack of motivation. Contrary to common perceptions, the condition does not cause a split personality or multiple personalities and most people with the disease are not dangerous or violent.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a terrorist act, combat or a violent personal assault can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Symptoms include intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to the experience that last long after the situation has ended. People with PTSD may feel sadness, fear or anger and may become estranged from others. Roughly 11 percent of the U.S. population will be diagnosed with PTSD in their lifetime.
Eating Disorders
People with eating disorders develop disturbing eating habits and become preoccupied with their food and body weight. People with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa—common eating disorders—tend to be perfectionists with low self-esteem who are extremely critical of themselves and their bodies. They usually “feel fat” and see themselves as overweight, sometimes despite life-threatening semi-starvation. Eating disorders most often affect women between the ages of 12 and 35.
Addiction/Substance Abuse
Addiction is a complex brain disease manifested by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequences. People with addiction have an intense focus on using an item such as alcohol or drugs, to the point that it takes over their lives. They often forsake school, jobs and personal relationships to fuel their habit.
Source: American Psychiatric Association.
HR On-Call, Inc. provides resources to help companies more effectively accommodate mental health issues in the workplace. These include:
- How to Accommodate Workers with Addiction and Mental Health Conditions
- Toolkit: Employing People with Mental Health Disabilities
- Inclusion Initiatives: Different Demographic Groups Experience Mental Health Challenges in Unique Ways
- HR Forms: ADA Reasonable Accommodation Checklist
- Toolkit: Managing Employee Assistance Programs