Fighting the mental health stigma

Of all the employee-employer emails that get shared online, a recent one between Madalyn Parker, a web developer in the US, and her company CEO is going viral across the world for all the right reasons.

The story of Madalyn mentioning that she would be taking few days off from work to focus on her mental health, and the CEO writing back that such conversations were a key in cutting through the stigma, has got organisations and professionals worldwide thinking about mental health. Chennai-based mental health and human resources professionals share their thoughts on what it takes for Indian companies to get talking about mental health.  

With dialogues around mental health just entering the mainstream, there’s still a long way to go, says Richa Singh, the CEO and co-founder of YourDost, a platform that offers people help with their emotional and mental wellbeing through support from psychologists and counsellors. “We are not sensitised on how to speak up or react when somebody has a mental health issue. Employees fear that they will be discriminated, not given enough responsibility or be passed over for a promotion. Therefore you have a lot of employees, who suffer from depression and anxiety, but remain silent. It’s important to realise that there can be no physical health without mental health and deal with issues of the mind like it were a problem with our teeth, bones or heart,” she says.

This is an issue that needs to involve everyone, Richa believes. “The government needs to mandate that larger organisations have a mental health policy at the workplace. Employers need to communicate to employees that it’s okay to talk about mental health. I think making mental health a part of health insurance will go a long way in employers giving employees the space to speak up. Industry bodies like Assocham have highlighted the fact that Indian employees are depressed, anxious and stressed, now they need to bring about awareness.”

Vinita Jayapalan, the head HR at Softpath System LLC, concurs. “With depression and other mental health issues still being seen as a taboo, many companies do not take it very seriously to consider granting leave to their employees for mental health. Even many employees fighting mental health issues feel it might hamper their chances of growing in their job and hence choose to not talk about them. They rather mention some physical illness when they need leaves,” she says.

Recalling an instance when a company had sent an employee to her to get a clearance if the employee’s anxiety is not going to affect his performance, psychological counsellor Sneha Hindocha says, “The company, in this case, at least wanted to seek medical help to know if the employee was fit, even if it were not out of genuine concern. It’s very rare that we see Indian companies giving space for mental health talks. Things can turn around only if all of us are open and understanding of mental health needs.” As Richa says, “We truly need to believe that we are all humans and we are all vulnerable.”