The red flags of mental distress and the need to identify them

As workplace wellbeing continues to be a focal point for leaders, recognising when members of your team are experiencing forms of mental distress can be crucial.

HR Leader recently spoke to organisational resilience, wellbeing expert, co-founder, and chief executive of Springfox, Peta Sigley, about some of the obvious and underlying red flags pertaining to mental distress.

Sigley began by making a clear distinction between mental ill health and mental good health instead of putting everything into the singular box of mental health.

“When we’re talking about mental health, it’s really important to differentiate between mental illness and positive mental health. As Australians, we often use these terms interchangeably, but they’re very different spaces," said Sigley.

“When we’re talking about things like mental distress and mental health, we tend to use a traffic light system—for example, yellow flags and red flags. It’s important to recognise when we’re talking about these topics, we need to look at some of the common factors that come into play.”

Common behaviour is an easy way for employers, leaders, or workers to identify whether their colleague is experiencing some form of mental distress in the workplace. Being aware of what these common behaviour changes look like is imperative.

“Changes in behaviour is a good one. We get self-absorbed in our [work] days and we notice things but don’t really stop and reflect on them. So, when you notice increased irritability or frustration in yourself or others, or you’re finding excuses to avoid social events, these can be important signals to pay attention to," Sigley said.

“Maybe we’re not hanging around for somebody’s birthday celebration in the office, thinking ‘I’ve got too much work to do’. And that might be true, but if that’s becoming an excuse for avoidance, that’s a clear amber flag or yellow light.”

“If you’re normally upbeat and you’re finding that you’re sitting with sadness more often through the day or feeling flat, or you’re really noticing your mood swinging, that can be an issue, too.”

Recognising these behaviours personally or on someone around you takes awareness and a bit of courage because that next step naturally should be asking them or yourself if you’re OK.

Although Sigley described emotional symptoms, physical symptoms can also be prevalent when it comes to mental distress.

“The other key indicator is physical symptoms – things like feeling physical tiredness all the time. We all get mentally tired at the end of the day if we’ve been working hard, and that’s normal. We can also experience emotional fatigue if we’ve been in a heightened emotional state – perhaps we’re supporting someone who’s been sick, or we’ve been sick ourselves.”

“But when it comes to physical symptoms, what we’re talking about here mainly is headaches. Headaches are a good sign that the system’s not really in balance. So, we always say that people should take notice when the number, intensity or duration of their headaches increase. These physical symptoms can often point to something bigger," said Sigley.

Having a personal radar for when these mental distress symptoms – either emotionally or physically – arise is so important when it comes to maintaining healthy workplace wellbeing.

Being able to recognise that you are struggling and having the awareness to identify your own “red flags” will positively affect not only you but also your colleagues and the team around you, as you will be much more conscious of their wellbeing and their symptoms.