Employees Mental Health Issues Causes Revenue Loss

Recently, an online media platform reported that mental health issues among employees may have cost the country RM14.46 billion, or 1 percent of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018.

- Dr Philip George

At the Workplace Mental Health – The Business Costs Conference, it revealed that mental health issues among Malaysian adults are on the rise from 18 percent in 2005 to 29 percent in 2015.

The most common mental health problems in the workplace are depression and anxiety. And often enough, these conditions are not easily identifiable because of the stigma and taboo associated with them especially in countries such as Malaysia. Hence, the primary care health professionals face challenges in detecting these invisible or masked mental health conditions commonly seen in the workplace.

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

Depression can affect your body and your mind. Sleeping difficulty is common among people who are depressed. But, some may over-sleep as a way of escape from the real world.

The cause or effect debate is important in most physical symptoms. Chest pain can be a sign of heart, lung, or stomach problems, so see your doctor to rule out those causes. But it can be a symptom of depression. So, people with unexplained chest or body pains may experience psychosomatic pain - the emotional pain of the mind. Heart attack sufferers are more likely to be depressed. A soon to be published study will show that 49 percent of acute cardiac patients scored high on a depression rating scale.