‘Employers fail to support staff suffering mental distress …’
By Mahnaz Begum
‘Employers fail to support staff suffering mental distress and this is proven wit the fact that 200,000 mental health sufferers forced to leave work and claim benefits’, a quote from a mental health charity ‘Mind’. This is about understanding mental health and the stigma attached to it. Looking at the academic side Warwick University quoted that Asian women are highly exposed to mental health issues and they also claim there has not been much research into it. Taboo is one of the many reasons for the lack of understanding mental health issues within Asians. However some are making a change to mental health. The ‘British Asian Trust’ is launching more places for mental health sufferers to recover especially in developing countries such as Pakistan. The founder in this organisation quoted, ‘Mental health is a major health problem that is rising globally. There is a huge stigma attached to mental health.’ There is more of a stigma attached to race then the issue of mental health itself. Ethnic minorities especially British Asians are treated differently then white people. Is this the case? According to a medical practitioner all societies have their own viewpoint on mental health; many British Asians in this case blame ‘black magic’. This could be one of the reasons why there has been an increase in mental health sufferers.
