Edited by Martin Cadwell, Thursday 2 January 2025 at 05:35
Factors that may increase the risk of mental ill health in individuals.
Factors from inside the learning or work environment:
From a position that all people are experiencing some mental ill health,
it is impossible to glean any understanding of the breadth, depth, and
prevalence of mental ill health without understanding it to be resident
in every one of us, in at least one of its multifarious states, at any
given time. This may not, however, include the newest human infants.
Fear or worry of what will happen in the future, in a moment, or when we
next have to deliberately place ourselves in a situation that makes us
feel vulnerable, is ever-present yet may not be accessible to us as a
complete visage. Most of us are paranoid of bumps in the night, for
example. Paranoia is primal, we don't want to be eaten by a wolf,
sabre-toothed tiger, or a bear.
Many of us may, however, consider any usually hidden timorousness to be
merely caution and only someone who is mentally ill is NOT cautious; and
over-cautiousness being paranoia, which is also considered to be
apparent and, indeed, a telltale of mental ill health. However, almost
everyone who thinks they have good mental health is scared or paranoid
of moving towards mental ill health. I think that is called, 'Being
hoisted by their own petard', which if they could recognise that they
were indeed held so hoisted, would consequently begin to re-examine
their own reasoning, or even reason, as in "Perhaps I am wrong about
many other things". So, from this position, we can recognise that
causing someone to be 'hoisted by their own petard', or engendering a
feeling in them of diminishment or being undermined or abated, would be
factors in the increase of the risk of mental ill health in individuals;
This would be particularly so if this occurred in public.
Risk factors may be temporary, or long-term. Further, risk factors may
be either inside the learning or work environment, or outside the
learning or work environment. Most frequently, there are risk factors
that arise from or are exacerbated by, a multitude of areas in any
individual's lifetime. An example of how a temporary episode (though not
particularly temporally short) outside of a learning or work
environment creates an immediate and subsequent mental ill health in an
individual (person X) that is exacerbated, and sustained, by a similar
temporally short episodes which occur inside a learning or work
environment is:
Violence and bullying which includes deliberate public abatement
(diminishment) of an individual (person X), which was perpetrated by an
older sibling, who suffered from PTSD, caused by one of their parent's
predeliction towards spousal violence.
We should be clear in understanding that German language
uses genitive pronouns,
Der (masc.) Junge - The boy;
Die (fem.) Kirche - The Church (obviously churches are lovely);
and
Das (neut.) Madchen - The girl.
This means that a German girl is an 'it', while a German boy is strong,
beneficial, and important like Der Schule - The School, and a German
girl is an 'it' such as Das konto - The account (something that is
manipulated and only useful if something exists before it, such as money
and an entity that needs an account. But essentially, a German girl was
considered no better than a scullery girl or kitchen servant.
This person X, when publicly diminished or bullied in a school yard (or
inside a learning or work environment) would then not be able to recover
from any ill-health that arose from outside a learning or work
environment or person X's home, without a fairly substantial application
of a mental health program, which, due to spousal violence conducted by
person X's parent AND a twisted sibling rivalry directed at person X,
would probably have necessitated the removal of person X from the family
home.
Whenever person X might encounter tomfoolery or banter in a work
environment, person X would likely, I suggest, feel very uncomfortable.
Moreover, the coping mechanisms created by person X would probably
result in emotional detachment, which at best, might be temporarily
overcome, yet outside of 'safe' encounters and environments, such as
person X's marital home or solitary environments would result in
instantly gravitating towards a retreat behind a 'wall' of coping
mechanisms and emotional distance and detachment.
Certainly, person X would not be able to easily sustain a marriage unless
person X lived with a significantly benign spouse, and person X always
therefore feeling safe. Throughout the whole of person X's life, without
adequate mental health work and commitment, person X would suffer
considerable and multifarious mental ill health problems, on a permanent
basis, although many of the effects may be temporary.
So, from the vivid example above we can begin to extrapolate some risk
factors for mental health in the learning or work environment that we
might include when we use person X as an avatar.
When there is an unclear chain of communication or policies are unclear:
When Health and Safety policies are missing or inadequate, stress and
other (non specified) health and safety issues might not be identified
or managed properly. This comes from a basis that there is actually
someone or a group or department that would actually be able to have the
appropriate authority to halt, revise, and implement new work practices
on the premises.
In reality, there is no reason to expect that there is a dedicated
person or team with the time to continually assess the persons on site
for signs of stress or other H&S issues. With this in mind, there
may be poor communication, or none, between supervisors/tutors and the
employees or students, with the result that almost everyone on the
premises does not know what to do or feel that there is available
support; which is much the same as there being poor management
practices, since if no-one knows proper procedures the reporting of
problems is hampered and consequently sufficient resources to manage
situations effectively cannot be implemented.
This is identical to the participation of individuals in making
decisions being hindered, and correct authority and autonomous control
over individual's own work or learning is unclear, and tasks,
objectives, and roles are unclear.
From this there might be a result of poor management or misaligned supervision.
When there is poor management or misaligned supervision:
There could be inflexible working or study hours which 'force' people
into positions that do not allow for quality rest time and rejuvenation,
or maintain positive relationships with sufficient intercourse. This
could stem from there being a need to increase work/study hours because
members of a team are not doing/achieving their allocation of work or
that there is an uneven distribution of work. However, this could be
because team members have been given tasks that are unsuitable for their
capabilities or there is bullying or harassment (intentional or
unintentional).
Factors from outside the learning or work environment:
With suppressed reference to person X (above):
As mentioned before, there are no people who do not have mental ill
health. The human brain shuts many psychological problems away in order
for that organism to be able to focus on survival. Many of the risk
factors in this segment are factors that arise from previous mental
health issues either in oneself, or in individuals and groups around
oneself, such as:
If someone in a family has mental health problems which may be manifest
as results stemming from prior mental ill-health, including those found
in individuals outside of a family, such as alcoholism; physical or
sexual abuse; divorce; and family breakdown, this can lead to a leaching
of those problems into any other family members. Anyone affected may
then have a chain of symptoms such as feelings of low self-esteem,
insecurity, or inadequate coping mechanisms, which leads to emotional
detachment and feelings of isolation or rejection.
However, note is taken that there may be real and isolated risk factors
for ill mental health that are not within a contaminating chain of
negative influence such as, unemployment through a business downsizing
(not because the recently unemployed performs inadequately or
inappropriately); bereavement that is through natural demise, accidental
death that does not include someone who is drunk and driving, or
drunken violence, or because there are inadequate resources in an arid
environment; worries that are inadequately addressed such as rising cost
of living.
It should also be noted that debt such as may arise from gambling that
the wider world economics and micro-economics is, and will remain in a
state of torpidy, falls into the category of the individual already in a
state of mental ill health. A case in point: when someone gets a
mortgage on a first home they are already fearful of being homeless,
which is a symptom of mental ill-health, and in effect, the mortgage
owner may then have set up the second stage in the chain of creating
more risk factors, or mental ill-health. Now, the mortgage owner is
compelled to remain in such employment as will present sufficient
financial reward to not only pay for the mortgage but also allow enough
time for positive social interaction, allow sufficient rest and
relaxation periods away from work, and pay for entertainment and
nutritional needs while in employment.
Debt that arises from a state that is not a result from a relentless
pursuit of money, in other words, vicarious debt (I can't think of any
circumstances like that) is a risk factor for mental ill health.
We all suffer from stress so this can be a risk factor for mental ill
health. But to make it clear, if people cannot handle stress in a
positive and constructive way they are already suffering from mental
ill-health. Examples include: marriage, having children, moving house,
and taking a new job or promotion.
Some symptoms of mental ill health include drug and substance abuse and
deliberate isolation. All these are also risk factors of mental ill
health.
As a conclusion to this segment: only one's own physical ill health may
be a risk factor to mental ill health that could be considered to be
outside of that individual's own chain of mental ill health or the
result of vicarious instances of mental ill-health.
Temporary factors:
All aspects of people's lives are temporary, including their cells and
chemicals that exist in humans, since no-one is immortal and so there is
a plethora of temporary factors that impact on mental health.
People are like products in the market. There is a growth period, a
maturity period, and a decline period, and immutably an obsolescence
period (in harsh terms obsolescence means death). At the product launch
there is generally little interest in the product because needs and
wants are not expected by the general public to be satisfied by a
product they know little about. The human baby will also have only very
few needs. As a brand grows or a product becomes more widely known in
the market, there is a greater demand for the products by humans as
people never have their wants satisfied; we could say 'needs' if their
mental health is improved if they feel they have sufficient education,
new experiences, entertainment, or feel they are outwardly interesting
by having new or interesting attire or hair styles and colour.
Marketers recognise that teenagers and people under the age of
forty-five are inclined to feel more wants and needs than the rest of
the population. This is reflected in an increased yearning for products
and accomplishing a sense of belonging, until the human maturation
period is achieved. That is not to say that mature people spend less, it
only really means that a collection of wants and needs have already
been satisfied and there likely exists a lesser sense of satisfaction
that can be achieved through new experiences.
It is fair to say that as we age we have a smaller scope of experiences
that are new to us. Once the maturation period is passed there is a
period that reciprocates the very early stages of life recognised in a
decline of wants and a more stark prominence of needs, such as really
only needing food, water, shelter, and the very early stage of Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs and wants.
So, to qualify the statement that all things are temporary in human
lives: humans will change regardless of their outside environment or
involvement in social intercourse. Humans do change, however, in a
greater and more obvious way with social interaction and involvement
with their world around them; these being spheres of influence.
Physical health -
This includes physical activity and being outdoors. We only have to
remember back to the statements that were made by health practitioners
in the last four years (2023 backwards) to recognise how important being
outside is; not only for better air quality (less carbon dioxide and
more oxygen) and a reduction in the ratio of aerosol-spread diseases
such as epidemics to clean environments, but also how mental health is
improved by solitude and privacy that can sometimes only be found in
rural and remote areas. In both being outside, as in not being in a
building or vehicle, there is better air-quality. There is also a
consequence of periods of exercise which produces serotonin. Serotonin
is known to improve moods. Exercise also improves fitness which makes
most people feel positive.
I believe there are five experiences in life that are listed as being in
the top five most stressful times; Starting a new job is one of them, a
divorce is another, illness (death) another, debt and criminal court
appearances the other two. We might consider all five of these to be
either short-term or long-term; just as homelessness might only last a
couple of weeks in a tent in a lovely wood in a temperate Summer - many
people regard this as a holiday.
All of these are certainly stressful at the time of change, which
includes uncertainty and a curtailing of perhaps long-term confidence
and acquired, favoured freedom. All of these also require a period of
adjustment.
Long-term factors:
Long-term factors are also temporary.
Marriage; children; prior mental health issues; war, and all other
turmoils; homelessness; poor housing; domestic violence and abuse in the
childhood home; general life; dealing with the bus being late every
day; poverty; continuous rising costs; and, as Jean-Paul Sartes put it, 'Hell is, other people'.
The list is endless and includes both subjective and objective values
and decisions that result from hegemonies and a general feeling of
helplessness and inadequacy. Again, all of which is a symptom of
existing mental ill health.
New blog post
Factors that may increase the risk of mental ill health in individuals.
Factors from inside the learning or work environment:
From a position that all people are experiencing some mental ill health, it is impossible to glean any understanding of the breadth, depth, and prevalence of mental ill health without understanding it to be resident in every one of us, in at least one of its multifarious states, at any given time. This may not, however, include the newest human infants.
Fear or worry of what will happen in the future, in a moment, or when we next have to deliberately place ourselves in a situation that makes us feel vulnerable, is ever-present yet may not be accessible to us as a complete visage. Most of us are paranoid of bumps in the night, for example. Paranoia is primal, we don't want to be eaten by a wolf, sabre-toothed tiger, or a bear.
Many of us may, however, consider any usually hidden timorousness to be merely caution and only someone who is mentally ill is NOT cautious; and over-cautiousness being paranoia, which is also considered to be apparent and, indeed, a telltale of mental ill health. However, almost everyone who thinks they have good mental health is scared or paranoid of moving towards mental ill health. I think that is called, 'Being hoisted by their own petard', which if they could recognise that they were indeed held so hoisted, would consequently begin to re-examine their own reasoning, or even reason, as in "Perhaps I am wrong about many other things". So, from this position, we can recognise that causing someone to be 'hoisted by their own petard', or engendering a feeling in them of diminishment or being undermined or abated, would be factors in the increase of the risk of mental ill health in individuals; This would be particularly so if this occurred in public.
Risk factors may be temporary, or long-term. Further, risk factors may be either inside the learning or work environment, or outside the learning or work environment. Most frequently, there are risk factors that arise from or are exacerbated by, a multitude of areas in any individual's lifetime. An example of how a temporary episode (though not particularly temporally short) outside of a learning or work environment creates an immediate and subsequent mental ill health in an individual (person X) that is exacerbated, and sustained, by a similar temporally short episodes which occur inside a learning or work environment is:
Violence and bullying which includes deliberate public abatement (diminishment) of an individual (person X), which was perpetrated by an older sibling, who suffered from PTSD, caused by one of their parent's predeliction towards spousal violence.
We should be clear in understanding that German language uses genitive pronouns,
and
This means that a German girl is an 'it', while a German boy is strong, beneficial, and important like Der Schule - The School, and a German girl is an 'it' such as Das konto - The account (something that is manipulated and only useful if something exists before it, such as money and an entity that needs an account. But essentially, a German girl was considered no better than a scullery girl or kitchen servant.
This person X, when publicly diminished or bullied in a school yard (or inside a learning or work environment) would then not be able to recover from any ill-health that arose from outside a learning or work environment or person X's home, without a fairly substantial application of a mental health program, which, due to spousal violence conducted by person X's parent AND a twisted sibling rivalry directed at person X, would probably have necessitated the removal of person X from the family home.
Whenever person X might encounter tomfoolery or banter in a work environment, person X would likely, I suggest, feel very uncomfortable. Moreover, the coping mechanisms created by person X would probably result in emotional detachment, which at best, might be temporarily overcome, yet outside of 'safe' encounters and environments, such as person X's marital home or solitary environments would result in instantly gravitating towards a retreat behind a 'wall' of coping mechanisms and emotional distance and detachment.
Certainly, person X would not be able to easily sustain a marriage unless person X lived with a significantly benign spouse, and person X always therefore feeling safe. Throughout the whole of person X's life, without adequate mental health work and commitment, person X would suffer considerable and multifarious mental ill health problems, on a permanent basis, although many of the effects may be temporary.
So, from the vivid example above we can begin to extrapolate some risk factors for mental health in the learning or work environment that we might include when we use person X as an avatar.
When there is an unclear chain of communication or policies are unclear:
When Health and Safety policies are missing or inadequate, stress and other (non specified) health and safety issues might not be identified or managed properly. This comes from a basis that there is actually someone or a group or department that would actually be able to have the appropriate authority to halt, revise, and implement new work practices on the premises.
In reality, there is no reason to expect that there is a dedicated person or team with the time to continually assess the persons on site for signs of stress or other H&S issues. With this in mind, there may be poor communication, or none, between supervisors/tutors and the employees or students, with the result that almost everyone on the premises does not know what to do or feel that there is available support; which is much the same as there being poor management practices, since if no-one knows proper procedures the reporting of problems is hampered and consequently sufficient resources to manage situations effectively cannot be implemented.
This is identical to the participation of individuals in making decisions being hindered, and correct authority and autonomous control over individual's own work or learning is unclear, and tasks, objectives, and roles are unclear.
From this there might be a result of poor management or misaligned supervision.
When there is poor management or misaligned supervision:
There could be inflexible working or study hours which 'force' people into positions that do not allow for quality rest time and rejuvenation, or maintain positive relationships with sufficient intercourse. This could stem from there being a need to increase work/study hours because members of a team are not doing/achieving their allocation of work or that there is an uneven distribution of work. However, this could be because team members have been given tasks that are unsuitable for their capabilities or there is bullying or harassment (intentional or unintentional).
Factors from outside the learning or work environment:
With suppressed reference to person X (above):
As mentioned before, there are no people who do not have mental ill health. The human brain shuts many psychological problems away in order for that organism to be able to focus on survival. Many of the risk factors in this segment are factors that arise from previous mental health issues either in oneself, or in individuals and groups around oneself, such as:
If someone in a family has mental health problems which may be manifest as results stemming from prior mental ill-health, including those found in individuals outside of a family, such as alcoholism; physical or sexual abuse; divorce; and family breakdown, this can lead to a leaching of those problems into any other family members. Anyone affected may then have a chain of symptoms such as feelings of low self-esteem, insecurity, or inadequate coping mechanisms, which leads to emotional detachment and feelings of isolation or rejection.
However, note is taken that there may be real and isolated risk factors for ill mental health that are not within a contaminating chain of negative influence such as, unemployment through a business downsizing (not because the recently unemployed performs inadequately or inappropriately); bereavement that is through natural demise, accidental death that does not include someone who is drunk and driving, or drunken violence, or because there are inadequate resources in an arid environment; worries that are inadequately addressed such as rising cost of living.
It should also be noted that debt such as may arise from gambling that the wider world economics and micro-economics is, and will remain in a state of torpidy, falls into the category of the individual already in a state of mental ill health. A case in point: when someone gets a mortgage on a first home they are already fearful of being homeless, which is a symptom of mental ill-health, and in effect, the mortgage owner may then have set up the second stage in the chain of creating more risk factors, or mental ill-health. Now, the mortgage owner is compelled to remain in such employment as will present sufficient financial reward to not only pay for the mortgage but also allow enough time for positive social interaction, allow sufficient rest and relaxation periods away from work, and pay for entertainment and nutritional needs while in employment.
Debt that arises from a state that is not a result from a relentless pursuit of money, in other words, vicarious debt (I can't think of any circumstances like that) is a risk factor for mental ill health.
We all suffer from stress so this can be a risk factor for mental ill health. But to make it clear, if people cannot handle stress in a positive and constructive way they are already suffering from mental ill-health. Examples include: marriage, having children, moving house, and taking a new job or promotion.
Some symptoms of mental ill health include drug and substance abuse and deliberate isolation. All these are also risk factors of mental ill health.
As a conclusion to this segment: only one's own physical ill health may be a risk factor to mental ill health that could be considered to be outside of that individual's own chain of mental ill health or the result of vicarious instances of mental ill-health.
Temporary factors:
All aspects of people's lives are temporary, including their cells and chemicals that exist in humans, since no-one is immortal and so there is a plethora of temporary factors that impact on mental health.
People are like products in the market. There is a growth period, a maturity period, and a decline period, and immutably an obsolescence period (in harsh terms obsolescence means death). At the product launch there is generally little interest in the product because needs and wants are not expected by the general public to be satisfied by a product they know little about. The human baby will also have only very few needs. As a brand grows or a product becomes more widely known in the market, there is a greater demand for the products by humans as people never have their wants satisfied; we could say 'needs' if their mental health is improved if they feel they have sufficient education, new experiences, entertainment, or feel they are outwardly interesting by having new or interesting attire or hair styles and colour.
Marketers recognise that teenagers and people under the age of forty-five are inclined to feel more wants and needs than the rest of the population. This is reflected in an increased yearning for products and accomplishing a sense of belonging, until the human maturation period is achieved. That is not to say that mature people spend less, it only really means that a collection of wants and needs have already been satisfied and there likely exists a lesser sense of satisfaction that can be achieved through new experiences.
It is fair to say that as we age we have a smaller scope of experiences that are new to us. Once the maturation period is passed there is a period that reciprocates the very early stages of life recognised in a decline of wants and a more stark prominence of needs, such as really only needing food, water, shelter, and the very early stage of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and wants.
So, to qualify the statement that all things are temporary in human lives: humans will change regardless of their outside environment or involvement in social intercourse. Humans do change, however, in a greater and more obvious way with social interaction and involvement with their world around them; these being spheres of influence.
Physical health -
I believe there are five experiences in life that are listed as being in the top five most stressful times; Starting a new job is one of them, a divorce is another, illness (death) another, debt and criminal court appearances the other two. We might consider all five of these to be either short-term or long-term; just as homelessness might only last a couple of weeks in a tent in a lovely wood in a temperate Summer - many people regard this as a holiday. All of these are certainly stressful at the time of change, which includes uncertainty and a curtailing of perhaps long-term confidence and acquired, favoured freedom. All of these also require a period of adjustment.
Long-term factors:
Long-term factors are also temporary.
Marriage; children; prior mental health issues; war, and all other turmoils; homelessness; poor housing; domestic violence and abuse in the childhood home; general life; dealing with the bus being late every day; poverty; continuous rising costs; and, as Jean-Paul Sartes put it, 'Hell is, other people'.
The list is endless and includes both subjective and objective values and decisions that result from hegemonies and a general feeling of helplessness and inadequacy. Again, all of which is a symptom of existing mental ill health.