In June 2017 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health Dainius Pūras called for a global revolution in mental health care.
He argued that mental health interventions were segregated from other healthcare, based on outdated practices, and that ‘the status quo is simply unacceptable.’
He criticised the dominance of the biomedical model with its ‘overdependence on medication and the biased use of evidence which was contaminating knowledge about mental health’.
‘Mental health policies and services are in crises – not a crisis of chemical imbalances, but of power imbalances.’
It might seem that nothing has changed in the 6 years since that report, and on the ground for those that need help, it hasn’t much.
Contaminated knowledge about mental health is still rife, and this knowledge is being taken into businesses daily and shared with vulnerable, relief seeking employees who are totally unaware that what they are being taught is outdated and biased.
The power imbalance runs deep, albeit often innocently. Companies that are providing mental health interventions for struggling, burnt out, overwhelmed and distressed employees are often signposting them right into the jaws of the ‘biomedical gatekeepers’ with the ‘paternalistic and excessively medicalized concepts’ that Pūras warned about. All too often it doesn’t end well.
There are alternatives. Increasing proactive training would decrease the need for reactive intervention. It would cost companies less, reduce the number of people off sick, increase production, and create happier, more creative, more engaged workforces. As well as, most importantly, help the very people who need it.
Most people are more than capable of looking after their own mental health, but they need the correct information and training, which is most definitely not outdated pseudoscientific soundbites, (emotion pathways anyone?) or swanky graphics of irrelevant brain scans , and especially not training on ‘how to identify your bi-polar colleague’.
Proactive training gives employees control over their own wellbeing and increases agency, in itself an effective intervention against poor mental health.
Puras is absolutely right when he calls the current paradigm ‘paternalistic’. It is, and we all, in our own way, need to stop fuelling this debilitating culture because it’s doing more harm than good.
Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA at Ohio University
2wBravo! I think a lot of companies need to know more about this. Also, to add listening to concerns of those employees. Some employees are happy to help, however, there are some things that maybe very hard to handle.