Employment and Mental Health

I have done some writing in this blog previously about workplace harassment, a vicious social phenomenon that can lead to unemployment and significant mental health problems. I've seen it happen, first-hand, in the world of academia: a department chair or a dean goes on a power trip, feels threatened by professors who are successful (and who might threaten to overshadow the boss), and the dean or chair responds by making life into a living hell for the hapless professor. There is no effective recourse for a professor who has been targeted in this way by a department chair or dean; and the same is true in many other workplace settings.

A person who has lost his or her job suffers a major loss in self-confidence, accompanied by (or, depending on how you look at it, caused by) a drop in the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is heavily involved in emotion regulation. Depression is a frequent result, along with diminished energy and motivation levels, and other problems such as: Marital problems; parenting problems; and alcohol abuse, and/or other harmful addictive behaviors.

Recent economic instability, rising unemployment rates, and emotionally stressful conditions in employment, create major concerns about likely increases in mental health problems throughout our society. This, in turn, predicts increases in preventable diseases such as heart disease, adult-onset diabetes, addiction to harmful substances, and cancer. A recent study (see Science Daily, here) demonstrates that, even when adequate access to healthcare is available:

poor mental health outcomes are associated with precarious employment (e.g. temporary contracts or part-time work with low wages and no benefits). When compared with those with full-time work with benefits, workers who report employment insecurity experience significant adverse effects on their physical and mental health.
The research team have also found that stress at work is associated with a 50 per cent excess risk of coronary heart disease, and there is consistent evidence that jobs with high demands, low control, and effort-reward imbalance are risk factors for mental and physical health problems (major depression, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders).

I can't help but notice that the diseases (listed above) that appear to be most often exacerbated by these economic and employment conditions are also those with that have been found to be treatable or possibly preventable by means of behavioral or lifestyle interventions that include the practice of mindfulness meditation, exercise, and a healthy diet. What would happen, I wonder, if our governments and funding agencies engaged in effective promotion of these healthy habits?