Working requires physical strength, mental calculation and office organization for proper functionality to be recorded. It’s a totality of the physical and psychological to be able to deliver in a goal-oriented sector. Hence, one’s ability to deliver effectively comes from place healthy and stable mental life in a work environment.
However, a psychological breakdown from work may not necessarily be caused by the amount of work to be done or the role of the person involved. They could be due to a personal matter, illness, experience, or the nation’s problem which affects their service to work, thereby slowing the worker’s effectiveness.
These breakdowns are popularly referred to as Stress in a layman’s language.
Work Stress
This kind of stress affects not only the productivity of the company or organization involved but also the work-life balance of a worker. As work demand increases, the pressure to do more in compensation mounts heavily.
Oftentimes, the pressure could be from the measurement of self-worth over the task assigned. Other times, they could build from the angle of boss-employee communication. These affect an individual’s output to society and work.
Signs of Breakdowns from Work Stress
Aggression
Psychological breakdown or stress can be quite overwhelming especially when it has no medium of release at a workplace. Employees are stuck in an office space for most of the day and an incident that sparks up stress can arise at any time.
This makes them vulnerable to its effect and how they handle it. When this happens, employees or workers who have little or no control over their feelings and mode of expression can flare up and become aggressive to others around them.
Irritation
Irritation at work can be exhibited by workers or employees who also most likely use this medium to release some stress. Everything around them causes unrest in the mind and body.
This often leads to Frustration as they feel they are been cheated with more work, treated unfairly, or under-valued in the workplace. This is usually the first stage of stress in the office environment.
Absenteeism
Employees who have become perpetual absentees at work are probably going through one rough phase or the other. Being absent means employees or workers cannot bear to be in the same environment that is the cause of their stress and understanding the fact that they cannot be given leaves off day. This is another symptom of work-related stress.
Depression
A productive workplace should be able to motivate and give a sense of satisfaction towards achieving that goal. When a worker feels they aren’t encouraged to do more, he or she is on the way to depression because they struggle to concentrate and strive for approval. This brings a feeling of sadness, stress, and mental instability.
Isolation
This is the most obvious sign as they appear to be physically glaring to anyone around a stressed person. Such a person tends to start keeping to themselves, not joining in office jokes, or going home alone too often. Introverts are most likely to fall into this stage faster than extroverts.
Isolation makes room for abominable thoughts and statistics have proven that 50% of individuals who commit suicide were isolated.
Anxiety
A worker who has anxiety shows signs of poor performance, lack of engagement at work, and poor productivity. There are different forms of anxiety in the workplace but they all result in a lack of engagement due to anxiety disorder, preventing them from taking up roles, hosting meetings, making presentations, and keeping relationships. These are glaring signs of anxiety.
Negativity
Due to the weight of the stress on workers who cannot seem to control their thoughts, they become negative in their speech and work delivery.
For example; Stella is under a lot of work stress as a new boss is her neck for some documented files. Haven tried her best to impress him to no avail; she starts to feel isolated and pressured, thinking that whatever she does makes no difference. She feels everything about her new Boss is negative and talks about him negatively, or chips in a negative comment just to feel a little bit good about herself…
Factors That Cause Psychological Breakdown At Work
Psychological breakdown is a serious health issue which requires active treatment as the individual involved is exposed to various effects which could result in a total mental meltdown. To avoid or curb work-stress breakdown, here are some factors to look out for;
Discrimination
This is a common factor in the workplace where employers and co-workers treat the other unfairly. This treatment could be based on tribe, colour, religion, age or race. Discrimination revolves around the type of treatment one gets at work and usually directed at the characteristics of the victim.
Harassment
This is quite different from Discrimination as it involves offensive acts such as threats, intimidation, and sometimes comments that subject one to unwelcome advances which affect the psychological health of the person involved.,
Insecurity
Different insecurities can affect a worker’s ability to function properly in the workplace. Some of which are; Salary- a worker that is underpaid or often gets his salary slashed is a major problem at the workplace
Workload- workers feel insecure when they are having trouble with completing tasks and following up. This can be controlled if assignments are delegated. Others are performance, promotions, relationships, change, and work stability.
No work tools
Having the right tools to work makes delivery effortless and enjoyable. A software Engineer without the right tools or software to work makes his work difficult and tasking. Having the right tools creates a productive work culture, gives them a sense of security, and opens doors to better training options.
Delivery Pressure
To deliver tasks at work, employees try to find different ways to handle pressure while others cannot. The effects of mismanagement of pressure can cause mental breakdowns in work delivery as workers struggle to maintain sanity in a fast-paced work environment.
Ways to handle stress at work
There are no specifics to handling stress at the workplace. The trick is to find what works for you and stick to it. However, there are some techniques for finding the right style;
- Avoid work conflict
- Plan your day and stick with it
- Be active at work
- Talks walk breaks
- Be organized
- Observe what causes stress and do the opposite
- Maintain positivity
- Keep good friends
- Create a good work-life balance
- Ask for help when needed
- Always go for check-ups at the Doctor’s
- Been open to corrections
- Engage in your hobby during work breaks
Psychological Breakdown can be handled if observed on time. However, the most obvious kind is depression and this can be curbed by doing things that lighten up the mood and keeps one happy. Mental health is important to good work delivery.
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