Page 46 - Fyne winter 2014

A crisis in mental health and what
it means for our community
“Mental health is still a taboo subject, but
an enormous number of people have faced
or will face mental ill health in the course of
their lives, official statistics suggest as many
as one in four of us. The most prevalent
of mental health conditions is depression,
which is often linked to excessive stress,
sometimes originating in the workplace.
Many people are so afraid of the stigma
associated with mental ill health that they
conceal the symptoms and fail to seek
advice and treatment, which only makes
the problem worse.
People who are LGB or Trans are even more
at risk of mental ill health if they have to
confront prejudice at work. If they decide
not to be open about their sexuality or
gender identity, it can be just as stressful as
facing the consequences if they do ‘come
out’ as they have to live continuously
hidden lives such as inventing stories to
explain what they were doing last weekend.
Of course, much has improved and many
employers will act to prevent harassment
of their LGBT workers, and trade union
workplace representatives can offer
protection and support too. But the sad
truth about the harassment faced by LGB
workers was exposed earlier this year in the
largest ever survey carried out by researchers
at the Manchester Business School. It
studied thousands of workers across all
sectors and found that LGB (they
didn’t cover trans) workers were
two and a half times more
likely than heterosexual
workers to face bullying or
discrimination because
of their sexuality. This
was true for all parts of
the economy across
the voluntary, private
and public sectors.
The attitudes and
the ignorance
displayed by many
of their heterosexual
colleagues, and the
lack of comprehension
displayed by managers,
was truly worrying.
One consequence
identified in the survey
was that bullying because of
sexuality leads to a greater risk
of mental ill health for all LGB
workers, but especially for those
identifying as lesbian or bisexual.
The greater psychological
impact on women of bullying
WINTER 2014
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