Mental Illness Among Male Emergency Workers In Australia: Causes, Treatment And Prevention

Causes of mental illness among male emergency workers in Australia

Question:

Discuss About The Australia Among Male Emergency In Workers?

Health is a state of being free from any illness or pain. A person’s wellbeing depends on a number of factors such as lifestyle, economic, social and environmental factors. In a broader perspective, health can be categorized into three major areas: Physical, Social and Mental health. As per WHO newsletter (Sep’17), Good mental health is associated with mental and psychological comfort. If a person is mentally healthy, he can manage daily chores of life and handle day-to-day work stress very effectively.  It comprises one’s emotional well-being, behaviour, positive thoughts, and economics. Stress, trauma, anxiety, unhealthy working condition, etc. are few elements that may affect one’s mental health (Kennedy, 2017). In this research programme, the study is being done on the mental illness among male emergency workers in Australia such as firefighters, policemen, rescue and ambulance officers, etc. They are the major fatalities of psychological disorders due to the recurrent exposure to traumatic conditions. Many sociological traits may be the reasons for mental illness among emergency workers such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class or lifestyle, but stress has been considered as the major cause of mental illness.

Emergency workers are the important part of the Australian economy. They play a vital role in society. They provide emergency assistance and ensure the safety of citizens. They may be considered as one of the most appreciated occupational class (Kennedy, 2017). The customary issue of depression and anxiety is noticed in this class.

The major cause of mental illness among this class is noticed to be trauma that they face daily, however other factors like work culture, demographics, and regime are also responsible for the illness. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is diagnosed in almost 10% of male emergency workers (Kennedy, 2017). When men suffer from stress disorders or depression, they exhibit abnormal behaviour that needs to be noticed and examined as per symptoms mentioned under guidelines for mental illness by WHO (Robaczewska and Didangelou, 2016).  Various steps are being taken by health organizations to deal with this matter. These will be discussed in this research paper along with various prevention and treatment measures. 

Working helps keep our mind fresh and active however working in the stressful environment may result in mental illness.  Most of the emergency workers face stressful situations at work. Being in the male dominating environment, maximum emergency services are provided by male workers. Work strain may contribute to mental health issues or may worsen an existing disorder. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can be explained as an acute mental illness that occurs due to prolonged or repeated revelation to the strained setting.  Repeat shifts increase the risk of being affected due to lack of sleep and rest (Wang et al., 2014). To avoid such situation, mental health promotion should be done periodically at all workplaces. Australian guidelines for treatment of acute stress recommended by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) should be followed firmly.  The personnel suffering from PTSD should be treated efficiently (Kennedy, 2017). During the recovery period, exposure to strain may widen the illness and complicate the issue. Guidance should be provided at every step during the process. A number of treatment options including both psychological and pharmacological are effective in improving such condition. Other disorders noticed among male emergency workers are alcohol misuse and depression. More than 40% of fire fighters are engaged in precarious drinking habits (Wang et al., 2014). Employment security norms should be rigidly placed to avoid any accident that may leave distress on one’s mind.

Treatment for mental illness among male emergency workers in Australia

Social support is a vibrant factor that promotes mental health. Experiences with family and friends leave a noticeable impact on mental well-being. Social and cultural factors affect the human mind to a great extent. Positive events influence one’s mind and fill him with affirmative energy. Similarly, negative life events may result in depression and anxiety. A prolonged acquaintance at stressful relationships ends in mental disorders. Financial defeat, loss of near and dear ones, a wrong relationship or bad life partner may lead to a stubborn reaction. Fear, anger, guilt, trauma reminders are few symptoms of illness. The further impact of illness decreases in the ability to play the role of an emergency service provider being highly aggressive and unstable. Mental disorder demands suitable treatment. Families should be involved in the treatment procedures to avoid re-occurrence of such issues.

Few male emergency workers join the teams to meet their daily requirements. Social discrimination at workplace restricts one to ask for help at the hour of need and stop him from being the participating team member. It may happen due to any particular characteristic such as skin colour, disability, or cultural background. Harmful effects of stigma include isolation, shame, bullying, etc. among the same work group (Montgomery, et. al, 2013). It may generate negative thoughts in one’s mind that may upshot to self-doubt. It also limits the opportunities of assignments and promotion. The major cures for stress due to discrimination are not to let the fear being labelled in mind and ignore the people’s influence. One should try not to isolate self to avoid any sort of stress or mental issue and should get the timely mental treatment if required. Community belongings help one get social support and freedom from bullying.

Prevention is the early step that should be taken in time to avoid the situation being out of control. Once a person gets affected by mental illness, it takes a long time to cure him. It is better to prevent mental illness by creating stress free and positive environment (Wang et al., 2014). If the symptoms are present, it’s better to start early treatment and avoid any further delays as it may worsen the situation and may result in acute depression that has taken many lives of emergency workers in Australia. An emergency worker should be given appropriate training regarding his work and he should be informed about his duties and tasks that need to be performed well in advance to avoid any kind of shock. Basic preventive measures include healthy lifestyle following, restricted smoking, taking sufficient sleep, avoiding any sort of mental stress etc. In the case of positive treatment of depression or trauma, it is better to prevent further experience with traumatic events. Their duties should be modified accordingly to avoid re-occurrence of illness (Wang et al., 2014).

Preventive measures for mental illness among male emergency workers in Australia

The protective workplace is the basic need to prevent any sort of stress among workers. Teamwork, supportive management, leadership help, pre-defined responsibilities, and optimistic work environment are some key factors that need to be considered to create a stress free workplace. The rules designed should be implemented effectively (Montgomery,et. al, 2013. Periodical training and feedback sessions should be arranged to sustain employees’ confidence. Early help seeking behaviour should be encouraged to make all operations a success without any loss. Emergency service sectors deal with risk and traumatic incidents on a regular basis so protective features should be introduced to keep the workers’ morale high.

Employee friendly environment should be created (Skeffington, et. al, 2016). If management or leaders focus on customer needs only and ignore employees’ issues, it may result in conflicts and stressful working environment. Over diective leadership also results in the discontent workforce. Dominant leadership environment results in poor mental health among teams. On the other hand, high level of organizational support yields a better outcome and contributes to reduced stress level. A team can achieve its goals only when team members are satisfied in the roles assigned to them.

Mentally healthy society can only be created with everyone’s support. If discrimination is reduced and anti bullying programs introduced, it may lead to a warm environment for every community to work. A person should be introduced as per his/her abilities and not by any sort of illness or racial discrimination (Jones, et. al, 2016). Pre-labelling or prior judgment should not be practiced as it may hurt one’s dignity and thus cause stressful atmosphere. Stereotype comments should be avoided and everyone should be accepted in the team as colleagues or mates. Racial motivated conversation and comments cause anxiety and depression among targets. Mental health promotional policies should be introduced to team and organizational level. There should always be an open conversation session arranged at a regular interval where everyone should be free to talk about issues that he is facing while working with the organization (Jones, et. al, 2016).

Proper training for skill development enhances the confidence level among emergency workers. This reduces the chances of getting hurt during any incident. It automatically eliminates stress from the mind and thus avoids further mental health issues (Sane.org, 2017). Socio-emotional learning should be provided to all workers so that they may prepare themselves to cope with daily work stress. It will lessen the behavioural problems and reduce the risk factors regarding any sort of emotional concerns. Life skills training help one respond positively to the social factors such as anxiety, fear, and depression (Sane.org, 2017). They become ready to face daily stressors and thus overcome the risks involved. Equity culture should be adopted in the organization.

Creating a Protective Workplace for Male Emergency Workers

An emergency worker needs to be physically fit. Appropriate sessions should be arranged for all employees to guide them about benefits of supporting a healthy diet and exercising. The use of alcohol and drugs should be reduced to intensify decision-making power. Management measures should be taken to survive physical injury or pain. Fatigue management should be practiced. Symptoms, signs and basic treatment lessons of mental illness should be delivered to the teams time to time (Skeffington, et. al, 2016).

Workers should be prepared in advance to accept mental illness as any other medical condition and be positive towards it. The organization should provide referral routes for workers to the health service providers.

Scholar review is the process of exposing an author’s research work to the analysis of other experts in the same field. Wellness and Illness definitions have kept on changing from time to time based on different diagnosis (Monroe, et.al, 2014). There are several online and offline scholarly journals published to mention recent developments regarding stress, depression and mental illness. Mental disorder is a medical condition that affects one’s thinking, behaviour, mood, and ability to feel. There are various causes of mental illness that have been discussed by various health service providers (Monroe, et.al, 2014). Journal of Traumatic Stress Disorders and Treatment publishes the periodical result of research done regarding causes, prevention measures, disorders, and treatments (Skeffington, et. al, 2016).

Male mental disorder rate is higher than female mental illness in Australia. Male emergency workers class is the highest possible target of mental illness. Several studies have been done to identify the cause of illness among this particular class (Mariarita Greco, 2015). The international Journal of Mental Health Systems is conducting a research on mental health systems through open access journal. Beyond blue is working closely on the same issue. There is crucial demand arising for effective and accurate measures regarding mental health system (Mariarita Greco, 2015).

Conclusion

In the above research programme, a study has been done on mental illness among male emergency workers in Australia. There are various elements responsible for the disorder but the major cause concluded is stress due to traumatic conditions under which most of the emergency workers perform their duties. This particular service provider class including fire fighters, policemen, rescue and ambulance officers etc. face daily challenges that pose threat to their lives. These events leave a permanent mark on one’s mind. Sometimes, that may lead to long-term stress and further depression or mental illness (Mariarita Greco, 2015). Various other causes, preventive measures, and treatment options are also discussed in detail. Best way to avoid mental disorders is by taking care of physical health and creating a positive social and work environment. Other best way to avoid such a situation is accumulating knowledge about signs and symptoms of mental illness to understand the issue timely and treat it.

References

Jones, M., Kruger, M. and Walsh, S. (2016). Preparing non-government organization workers to conduct health checks for people with serious mental illness in regional Australia. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 23(5), pp.247-254.

Kennedy, J. (2017). New guidelines identify and treat PTSD symptoms among police, ambulance, fire officers. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-28/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-guidelines-to-help-emergency-work/6890764 [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017].

Mariarita Greco, G. (2015). Organizational Interventions as a Strategy to Prevent Work Related Stress among Mental Health Workers. International Journal of Emergency Mental Healthcare and Human Resilience, 17(3).

Milner, A., Witt, K., Maheen, H. and LaMontagne, A. (2017). Suicide among emergency and protective service workers: A retrospective mortality study in Australia, 2001 to 2012. Work, 57(2), pp.281-287.

Monroe, S., Slavich, G. and Gotlib, I. (2014). Life stress and family history for depression: The moderating role of past depressive episodes. Journal of psychology Research, 49, pp.90-95.

Montgomery, A., Metraux, S. and Culhane, D. (2013). Rethinking Homelessness Prevention among Persons with Serious Mental Illness. Social Issues and Policy Review, 7(1), pp.58-82.

Robaczewska, J. and Didangelou, D. (2016). “Your Words. Your Power: Writing as a Self-Empowering Tool For Women’s Mental Health In Developing Countries”. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, 18(01).

Sane.org. (2017). SANE Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.sane.org/ [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017].

Skeffington, P., Rees, C. and Mazzucchelli, T. (2016). Trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder within fire and emergency services in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Psychology, 69(1), pp.20-28.

Wang, M., Mykletun, A., Møyner, E., Øverland, S., Henderson, M., Stansfeld, S., Hotopf, M. and Harvey, S. (2014). Job Strain, Health and Sickness Absence: Results from the Hordaland Health Study. PLoS ONE, 9(4), p.e96025.