Unspoken Symptoms: Businesses prioritize mental health as COVID-19 crisis continues.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: HEALTHCARE

Almost one in four American adults will experience a diagnosable behavioral health condition this year, ranging from anxiety and depression to post-traumatic stress disorder to alcohol and opioid misuse. Prior to the pandemic. 39 percent of Americans were suffering from mental health distress, with 31 percent of people experiencing negative mental health conditions also suffering from an addiction. With the onset of COVID-19, the situation is only expected to get worse.

These conditions affect every aspect of a person's life, and business owners, managers, and human resource departments must prepare for how they might also affect the workplace.

"Many employers find it difficult to deal with mental health conditions; they don't know how to talk about it or how to provide accommodations for these employees. Human resources decision makers are not always confident in how to recognize or deal with these problems," said Dan Jolivet, workplace possibilities practice consultant at The Standard, during a recent webinar titled "The Future of Behavioral Health in the Workplace" hosted by the Alaska SHRM State Council. "Making things even more difficult, workers often hide these issues due to stigma, shame, or fear."

What's Happening in the Workplace

In addition to taking a toll on productivity, mental health issues carry financial implications as well.

Jolivet estimates that about half of a person's work week Is "eaten up" by mental health issues, meaning that these people are not as productive as they could be.

"People also tend to develop co-occurrent conditions," he explained, giving the example of employees who, after developing physical disorders, have a high rate of developing mental health and substance abuse conditions as well. "This requires additional treatment and time and results in a much lower chance of that employee returning to work."

Since the pandemic began, things have gotten even rougher for businesses and their employees. Helplines around the country have reported a 50 percent increase In calls, and prescriptions for anti-anxiety, antidepressant, and sleep medications increased 21 percent between February and March of 2020.

Jolivet adds that that alcohol sales increased 500 percent from April 2019 to April 2020, and one-third of American workers have reported drinking during work hours when working remotely. Reports of PTSD have Increased among healthcare workers, those who have had COVID-19, and the general population.

For this reason, it is Imperative that employers take the lead In recognizing mental health issues in the workplace and provide resources to help.

"Understanding what behavioral health challenges are and aren't, and really destigmatizlng the challenges that go with them, is Important," says like Abbott.

CEO of Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. "Like physical health issues...