Wesley
Giardini
Job
Stability and Emotional Instability
There are many
reasons why people may become emotionally unstable. In my last blog I
went into detail on how many people are unsatisfied with their jobs.
A poll by Gallop gathered information from 230,000 full and part-time
workers in 142 countries. The poll found that only 13 percent of
workers feel engaged by their jobs. Being “engaged” means that
they feel a sense of passion for their work, and are happy to drive
their company forward. A whole 63 percent are “not engaged”,
meaning that basically they are unhappy with their jobs, but not
drastically. The last 24 percent are in the category Gallup calls
“actively disengaged” or they just hate their jobs. According to
this survey, 87 percent of working people are at least a little
dissatisfied with their current job. This dissatisfaction can
potentially lead to numerous health problems resulting from stress. I
find it amazing just how many people are unsatisfied with their job.
In this blog I want to focus on something related: how job stability
affects emotional instability.
Dr. Carlton Rosenzweig said talking of layoffs, ''It spreads quickly, even to people whose jobs aren't threatened. People get so disturbed just at the thought of losing their jobs that the stress they're under begins to affect their morale, productivity and physical well-being. Recently stress in the workplace has been much more in evidence during what amounts to a national mergers-and-acquisitions binge.'' (Singer, 1986) Dr. Rosenzweig is saying that people start to get emotionally unstable when they are not sure whether they are going to keep their jobs. Stress starts to creep in even at the thought of a layoff.
Dr. Rosenzweig, head of the Westchester Counseling Center in White Plains, works closely with employee-assistance programs within area companies in treating employees with work-related stress problems. He goes on to say ''after every merger or acquisition in the county we see an increase in people who come in for counseling. Even heads of departments whose jobs are secure feel threatened. They have so much internal anxiety that they hesitate to make necessary decisions and subsequently their job performance begins to deteriorate. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. As they become less effective, they stand a real chance of losing their jobs.'' People start putting themselves into a bad situation, even if they weren't in one to begin with. The stress of possibly losing their job becomes more work than work itself. I also find it interesting that even higher up managers and department heads feel insecure, even when their jobs are not on the line. Being emotionally stable is a very hard task when things are changing all the time around you. The use of antidepressants has risen for many reasons, one of them I believe is the fact that it is very hard for some to come to ease with the fact that their job, and everything they work for in life, can possibly be gone at any instant. This has the possibility to make even the most level-headed man (or woman) cower at just the very thought of it. Being emotionally stable in times such as these requires us to think unconventionally, and come to grips that our jobs may not be the most important thing on this earth.
The first thing stress tends to affect is mental health. Studies show a correlation between stress and the development of mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. According to the American Psychological Association’s latest stress survey, 66 percent of people regularly experience physical symptoms of stress, and 63 percent experience psychological symptoms. Dr. Leslie Hammer of the University of Portland said "With high levels of job stress and work-life stress, we see mental health problems" (2013). She also said they have been seeing more increased levels of depressive symptoms. Most people sometimes have feelings of sadness, but they are usually short-lived, and tend to pass within a couple of days. When you have chronic depression, it interferes with daily life. Not knowing if your job is secure and if your will be able to support your family can create a feeling of anxiety when going to work or even at home, which can also create a stress response, and after a while turn in to depression.
When stress gets too high, as I also touched on in my last blog, it can start to have such adverse affects on people that it can even lead to cardiovascular disease. This disease has become more and more prevalent in todays working class. Dr. Hammer states that “cardiovascular disease has been a clear link with job strain. We see obesity problems. We see general physical health complaints." This is pointing to the fact that your job can obviously have a negative impact on your health. I believe that part of job strain is the looming fear of the only thing worse than a bad job, which is no job at all. Cardiovascular disease can be anything from a heart-attack, arrhythmia, stroke, or coronary heart disease. Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally; more people die of it than any other cause. It is estimated that by 2030, the number of people who die from cardiovascular disease will rise to over 23 million people.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, Stress can be defined as “the brains response to any demand”. Stress can be positive, which is known as “eustress”. Eustress is a positive response to a stressor, such as fostering motivation to reach a goal once it is in sight. Though stress can be positive, most of the time we get overwhelmed with the amount of stress we are receiving, thus becoming “negative” stress. The question is, can the fear of losing your job cause negative stress?
Dr. Carlton Rosenzweig said talking of layoffs, ''It spreads quickly, even to people whose jobs aren't threatened. People get so disturbed just at the thought of losing their jobs that the stress they're under begins to affect their morale, productivity and physical well-being. Recently stress in the workplace has been much more in evidence during what amounts to a national mergers-and-acquisitions binge.'' (Singer, 1986) Dr. Rosenzweig is saying that people start to get emotionally unstable when they are not sure whether they are going to keep their jobs. Stress starts to creep in even at the thought of a layoff.
Dr. Rosenzweig, head of the Westchester Counseling Center in White Plains, works closely with employee-assistance programs within area companies in treating employees with work-related stress problems. He goes on to say ''after every merger or acquisition in the county we see an increase in people who come in for counseling. Even heads of departments whose jobs are secure feel threatened. They have so much internal anxiety that they hesitate to make necessary decisions and subsequently their job performance begins to deteriorate. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. As they become less effective, they stand a real chance of losing their jobs.'' People start putting themselves into a bad situation, even if they weren't in one to begin with. The stress of possibly losing their job becomes more work than work itself. I also find it interesting that even higher up managers and department heads feel insecure, even when their jobs are not on the line. Being emotionally stable is a very hard task when things are changing all the time around you. The use of antidepressants has risen for many reasons, one of them I believe is the fact that it is very hard for some to come to ease with the fact that their job, and everything they work for in life, can possibly be gone at any instant. This has the possibility to make even the most level-headed man (or woman) cower at just the very thought of it. Being emotionally stable in times such as these requires us to think unconventionally, and come to grips that our jobs may not be the most important thing on this earth.
The first thing stress tends to affect is mental health. Studies show a correlation between stress and the development of mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. According to the American Psychological Association’s latest stress survey, 66 percent of people regularly experience physical symptoms of stress, and 63 percent experience psychological symptoms. Dr. Leslie Hammer of the University of Portland said "With high levels of job stress and work-life stress, we see mental health problems" (2013). She also said they have been seeing more increased levels of depressive symptoms. Most people sometimes have feelings of sadness, but they are usually short-lived, and tend to pass within a couple of days. When you have chronic depression, it interferes with daily life. Not knowing if your job is secure and if your will be able to support your family can create a feeling of anxiety when going to work or even at home, which can also create a stress response, and after a while turn in to depression.
When stress gets too high, as I also touched on in my last blog, it can start to have such adverse affects on people that it can even lead to cardiovascular disease. This disease has become more and more prevalent in todays working class. Dr. Hammer states that “cardiovascular disease has been a clear link with job strain. We see obesity problems. We see general physical health complaints." This is pointing to the fact that your job can obviously have a negative impact on your health. I believe that part of job strain is the looming fear of the only thing worse than a bad job, which is no job at all. Cardiovascular disease can be anything from a heart-attack, arrhythmia, stroke, or coronary heart disease. Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally; more people die of it than any other cause. It is estimated that by 2030, the number of people who die from cardiovascular disease will rise to over 23 million people.
An
article from Forbes magazine said that emotional stability
significantly affects peoples ability to cope with change. “Results
of the number crunching revealed that, out of the Big Five
personality traits, only emotional stability and extraversion
significantly predicted people’s ability to cope with change.”
(Bailey,
2013)
Emotional stability was a stronger predictor of reactive performance:
people who are able to keep a cool head and hold their emotions in
check are more able to thrive when change is happening around them.
People high in emotional stability are more likely to use
task-focused coping strategies when faced with change, which helps
them to reduce ambiguity and get to grips with the ‘new world’
than people who use emotion-focused coping strategies like anger or
denial.
Being
emotionally stable is a very hard task when things are changing all
the time around you. The use of antidepressants has risen for many
reasons, one of them I believe is the fact that it is very hard for
some to come to ease with the fact that their job, and everything
they work for in life, can possibly be gone at any instant. This has
the possibility to make even the most level-headed man (or woman)
cower at just the very thought of it. Being emotionally stable in
times such as these requires us to think unconventionally, and come
to grips that our jobs may not be the most important thing on this
earth.
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