Understanding the Health Effects of Workplace Discrimination
Despite the governments best efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination from Australian culture and society, it still remains. In the workplace, things like racial, gender and religious discrimination are common, especially against minority groups. Because of this, thousands of people across the country suffer some form of mental illness every year. Even low-level workplace discrimination can have a cumulative effect which can impact absolutely anyone. As you can imagine, it’s important that we’re able to identify and deal with these impacts before they become too severe. Below, we’ve outlined a few strategies to help you with office sickness, regardless of your exact situation. Pay Careful Attention to Your Mental State For starters, it’s extremely important to make sure you’re aware of your mental state and any lasting irregularities. This is true regardless of whether or not you’re being discriminated against. The key to maintaining mental health is to be mindful of the following:
- Any loss of motivation or lack of energy that could signal the onset of depression, anxiety or any other illness.
- Lower self-confidence, including in social settings where you would have been comfortable in the past.
- A desire to stay home from work. Everyone loves a day off from time to time, but if you find yourself having trouble getting out of bed for work every day, you could have a problem.
- Any increase in alcohol and/or cigarette consumption.