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The Unseen Struggle

The Unseen Struggle
by Carol Patton

Employers are increasingly taking a more proactive, multi-pronged approach to managing the costly and often overlooked issue of mental health.

Roughly 20 years ago, Keris Myrick was diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Throughout her career, she says, some supervisors and coworkers treated her differently after learning of her illness.

Myrick, who now serves as the director for the office of consumer affairs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in Rockville, Md., recalls how one employer mandated that an onsite nurse distribute her medications even though it was not being done for other employees who required medicine for physical conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. When Myrick was placed on short-term disability due to her condition, co-workers never called or sent get-well cards like they did with her peers who were physically sick or hospitalized. Assuming her workload was also perceived as a staff burden, something she says is an "incredibly common experience" for employees with mental illness.

So when Myrick landed a new administrative job at a university, she avoided telling anyone about her illness. But her strategy backfired.

"I lost a lot of weight because I was very anxious," recalls Myrick. "I was working all of these extra hours, trying to keep up and make what I was doing perfect. But the more anxious I got, the worse my performance was. After four years, I was let go."

Nearly one in five adults (18.1 percent) suffer from mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Arlington, Va. Although many companies support a holistic approach to wellness that offers everything from budgeting workshops to yoga classes, such benefits barely touch the surface of mental illness, which is typically treated through a combination of medication and therapy.

Some employers have begun treating mental illness like any other serious health issue. Instead of shunning and hiding it, they're taking a proactive approach toward understanding and managing it. They're raising awareness about such conditions and making it OK for employees to step forward so they can get the assistance they need.

Road Map

Depression and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health issues. An estimated 16 million American adults -- almost 7 percent of the population -- had at least one major depressive episode last year, reports NAMI.

Read full article on Human Resource Executive.