Have we all become too sensitive?
Mental illnesses are on the rise! Statistics show that this increase is occurring in all industries. What are the reasons? Are we too sensitive? After all, our parents and grandparents worked much harder in the past - and didn’t 'go crazy' either.
Reasons discussed for the increase of mental illnesses:
- There are no more mental illnesses than before; they are detected better because doctors take a closer look. And the topic is no longer associated with as many taboos as it used to be; people talk more about it.
- In modern society, individuals are exposed to a great deal of more strenuous demands (particularly mental demands) than their ancestors. Regarding the broad variety of individual life plans, many suffer from a loss of orientation. And for many overstimulation is overstraining.
- The demands of the working world have increased. Nowadays work density and time pressure are greater than ever. Many employees have to be reachable for the company 24/7. Full recovery becomes impossible; stress actually never stops.
Probably all of these statements are true. The crucial aspect is:
More and more employees feel mentally overburdened. So there is certainly a need for action. Something has to be done so that mental overload doesn’t turn into mental illness.
By the way, you can find tips on the destigmatization of mental illness at: psyGA – Fokus / Destigmatisierung (German only)
Footnotes
- Footnote 1
Rockhoff, M., & Prüße, M. (2014). Psychosoziale Belastung in der Arbeitswelt und ihr Einfluss auf die Entwicklung psychischer Erkrankungen. Arbeit, 23(2). doi:10.1515/arbeit-2014-0209