Raising PTSD and Workplace Mental Health Consequence Awareness

In October 2017, the American Psychiatric Association reported that: "Studies have found that some 75 percent of rescue workers have mild symptoms of psychological trauma following a disaster. Several factors, including longer periods of deployment, inexperience, close contact with corpses and longer shifts, are associated with greater mental health challenges.... A national survey of first responders from the University of Phoenix found mental health challenges are common and while resources are generally available to help, they are often not used. Approximately 85 percent of first responders had experienced symptoms related to mental health issues, 34 percent had received a formal diagnosis with a mental disorder, more than a quarter had been diagnosed with depression, one in 10 had been diagnosed with PTSD and 46 percent had experienced anxiety. 

Despite the need, the majority of first responders reported that mental health services are rarely used at their organization. The stigma associated with mental health may be keeping them from getting the help they need. Nearly 40 percent said there would be negative repercussions for seeking mental health help at work, such as a supervisor treating them differently, being seen as weak or being overlooked for promotions."

While we tend to think of mental health consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, compassion fatigue and burnout as resulting from a specific traumatic event, these same things can result from prolonged exposure to a hostile and stress inducing work environment.  The harming effects of workplace stress resulting from a hostile workplace can result in an employee becoming psychologically injured after long-term abuse (problems that are drawn out over months). 

Agency misconduct has devastating effects on the targeted individual. Not only does one feel that their job is in jeopardy, they may also start to feel physically ill and emotionally harmed. This can create liabilities for the agency / employer, including:

• Occupational health and safety violations;
• Actions for negligence or intentional infliction of mental suffering; or
• Actions for defamation per se.

More importantly however a hostile workplace and agency misconduct results in direct harm to the targeted employee and general harm to the morale of the agency itself. Whether an employee is suffering mental health consequences as a result of a specific traumatic event, or as a result of a long-term problem within the agency, supervisors must ensure that resources are made available to these injured employees - and made available without recrimination or negative affect on the employee for seeking help.

https://www.vetselfcheck.org/