Key Question

Question 1

What is the key question?

Answer 1

What are the issues surrounding mental health in the workplace?

Question 2

How much does stress cost UK businesses p/a and why?

Answer 2

£26 billion due to low productivity, high labour turnover and high absenteeism

Question 3

How is absenteeism affected by mental health?

Answer 3

1/5 take a day off due to stress

Question 4

How many working days are lost due to stress and depression?

Answer 4

11 million working days

Question 5

Why shouldn’t businesses encourage those with poor mental health to resign?

Answer 5

Resigning is likely to negatively impact the individual due to loss of motivation and loss of friends

Question 6

Why is it in the interest of the business to ensure employees have good mental health?

Answer 6

Stress prevents people from performing to their best ability

Question 7

Why can depression be a drawback to productivity?

Answer 7

Leads to poor concentration, insomnia or hypersomnia which makes people unable to do their job properly

Question 8

Is this issue currently being addressed?

Answer 8

No, only 1/10 companies have an official mental health policy

Question 9

What problems do employees face?

Answer 9

• Inactivity - no time to exercise out of work
• Isolation - working alone, lack of face to face communication
• Monotonous routine

Question 10

How does the key question affect society as a whole?

Answer 10

• Lowers productivity
• Discourages people from entering particular careers
• Makes employers intolerant
• Costs NHS

Question 11

How does the key question affect individuals?

Answer 11

• Affects income = poorer standard of living
• Lowers morale
• Many suffer at work
• Many know someone who suffers - affects relationships

Question 12

How is diagnosis an issue surrounding mental health in the workplace?

Answer 12

Not being diagnoses properly - either type 1 or type 2 errors - could cause unnecessary days off or making the disorder worse

Question 13

What supports the issue of diagnosis being unreliable?

Answer 13

• Beck (1962) agreement on diagnosis of 153 patients was only 54%
• Rosenhan (1973) shows stigma of MHD, unfair to wrongly diagnose

Question 14

How do cultural differences show issues surrounding mental health in the workplace?

Answer 14

• More severe in industrialised nations than developing nations implying work is a factor
• Could be down to stress and pressure that isn’t present in developing countries
• Delusions more severe in the west, feeling spied on - could be due to micromanagement in workplace

Question 15

What supporting evidence is there for culture being an issue surrounding mental health in the workplace?

Answer 15

Kulhara (2009) found that a larger proportion of people have a good outcome of schizophrenia in developing countries than in developed

Question 16

What limiting evidence is there for culture being an issue surrounding mental health in the workplace?

Answer 16

Lin (1996) found the similarities of the symptoms of schizophrenia outweigh the differences expressed across cultures

Question 17

What issue does schizophrenia offer regarding how it is caused?

Answer 17

Suggestion that living in an urban environment and having a manual labour job causes it. 4/100 incidence in lower social classes, more likely to have bad jobs

Question 18

What supports the idea that jobs like manual labour with poor conditions could lead to schizophrenia?

Answer 18

• Cooper (2005) found that those in social class 5 (manual labour) had a 4.1 times higher incidence of schizophrenia than those in social class 1 (higher managerial)
• Hjem (2004) adversity in childhood = sz = stress at home due to work

Question 19

What weaknesses are there for the idea that a career choice can lead to schizophrenia?

Answer 19

22q11 depletion increases risk by 18%. Kirov et al (2008) found 52% participants had Xq23 gene variant. Exess dopamine and low glutamate found to link to it.

Question 20

What issue does Brown (1986) raise about mental health in the workplace?

Answer 20

92% of women who had crisis support saw it as helpful suggesting that employers should offer counselling. Low self esteem implicated in onset of depression, implies it could be due to struggling at work

Question 21

What counteracts Brown (1986)’s suggestion that low self esteem leads to depression?

Answer 21

91% experienced a severe life event implying that it isn’t to do with the workplace

Question 22

How could unipolar depression lead to an issue at the workplace?

Answer 22

Causes a disinterest in activity - affects 25% of women and 12% of men, explained by negative thinking - may be due to failing at work - employers should challenge this

Question 23

What evidence is there that CBT should be offered in the workplace?

Answer 23

Hollen et al (2002) CBT can be as effective as drug treatment.

Question 24

What weakness does the monoamine hypothesis offer regarding the cause of depression?

Answer 24

Low levels of monoamines - changes seretonin transporter - not due to negative thinking