What are the standards for mental health in the workplace?

While completing the basic responsibilities of your job, you can still maintain a relatively stable emotional baseline, and your work will not continue to encroach on the emotional space of your private life, even if you have reached the passing mark.

Of course, this statement has always been controversial. Many business managers are staunchly "performance-oriented" and believe that as long as they can complete work output stably and do not engage in confrontational workplace behavior, they are mentally healthy. After all, companies hire people to solve problems. They cannot be required to go to work and be happy every day and feel like they are on vacation. Most clinical psychology practitioners stand on the side of the "individual experience school" and believe that psychological problems are inherently hidden. When they affect work output, they have often reached the level that requires intervention, and output cannot be used as the only yardstick.

I met Xiao Xia, a content operator from a large company last year. She worked continuously for two months during the 618 period, and finally achieved S-level performance in the department. Her boss praised her for being able to handle tasks, and her colleagues thought she was in great shape. When she consulted with me privately, she said that during that time, she had to sit in the underground parking lot for 20 minutes every day after work to relax. On the weekends, she didn’t even have the energy to get up and put on makeup when a friend had a dinner date. According to the standards of managers, she is definitely an "excellent employee with good mental health", but according to clinical judgment standards, she has already shown signs of job burnout, and there is a high probability that she will have problems if she continues to work hard for two months.

Don’t think this standard is too nihilistic. It’s actually easy to perceive in daily workplace situations. For example, when you wake up on Monday morning and think about going to work, is your first reaction "a little annoyed but I can probably handle today's things", or is it "I feel so tight in my stomach that I want to make up a reason to take leave"? After turning off the computer after get off work, can you go to eat and watch TV shows with peace of mind, or can you not help but check the work group every ten minutes for fear of being held accountable for missing news from your boss? When a project is messed up and criticized by the leader, do you turn around and sort out the problem and find a solution, or do you have to be in emo for two or three days and can't even eat, and you can't help but deny yourself repeatedly? These detailed instant feelings are much more accurate than the definitions in those thick academic manuals.

Of course, there are also many people in the workplace who feel that there is no need to set the standards too strictly. Everyone comes out to work just to make a little money. Who doesn’t have some troubles at work? As long as you don't suffer from chronic insomnia or depression to the point of needing to take medicine, it's not a problem. This statement actually has very practical support. The stress thresholds of different positions are inherently different. It is unfair to measure salespeople who have to deal with customers every day and are scolded by customers with the same set of standards as administrators who rarely work overtime from 9 to 5.

To put it bluntly, mental health in the workplace is actually a bit like the sneakers you have worn all day long. Only you know whether they fit your feet or not. Outsiders may see that you walk briskly and your shoes are of good-looking style, but it does not mean that you have blisters on your heels. There is no need to impose other people's standards and criticize yourself, and don't pretend to be okay. If it really hurts, either put a band-aid on it for two days or change to a pair of comfortable shoes. It's better than having to intervene only when the pain is bleeding and you can't walk.