Should you Quit your Job for your Mental Health Reasons? : Psychologist Speaks

I am sure any and every person who has ever faced any form of mental health issues in their lifetime, has come across this question at least once – “should I quit my job?”. Nevertheless, this question is reinforced by all sorts of negative and depressing thoughts and emotions that are a consequence of mental health issues. For example, people who qualify for the Things like the following cross our mind when we are not in the right or healthy state of mind.

“Am I doing this right?”

“I don’t want to do this”

“this is not for me”

“I am not the right person for this”

But is it really okay to quit our job when our mental health is not supporting us? Is it helpful? Lets understand more about it.

Mental Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as the “complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity ” (1948). From here, we can easily understand that health is not just about our physical being, but also about our mental aspects. although physical health is more prioritized, it is never meant to reduce the importance of mental health and wellbeing.

There are varied factors, affecting one’s mental health, which could be clubbed under the following heads:

• Personal: involves one’s relationships with others, their own childhood experiences, and also the regular experiences of different situations at present, use of coping tactics, personality disposition, etc.
• Social: it involves the interactions of the person with different social groups, forming and maintaining social relationships, the impact of social norms and standards on personal development, etc.
• Cultural: it may sound similar to the ‘social’ component but is wider in its spectrum. It includes the cultural practices, rituals, knowledge, norms, ethics, conceptions of human rights, gender roles, stereotypes, and taboos that affect one’s mental well-being.
• Occupational: it includes all the factors that may enhance or deteriorate one’s work performance. The factors include the work environment, interpersonal relations at work, work commitment, rules and regulations, organisational culture, job motivation, job satisfaction, work-life balance, salary and other remunerations, etc.

Relationship Between Work Life and Mental Health

As discussed already, nature of work and its related components have intense effect on the mental health of the person.

The work environment is found to have great effects on the job performance and work motivation of the employee – be it in the formal or in informal sectors of organizations. As established in the Journal of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development (2019), a positive correlation is established between the work environment and employee productivity. It is also found that a positive and warm work environment is quite efficient in reducing work-related stress, and helps to build up effective coping resources, adding to a state of work-life balance.

The mental health of an individual goes hand-in-hand with one’s job motivation, organizational commitment and job satisfaction. For example, the greater the job satisfaction, job motivation, and organizational commitment of an employee; the lesser would be their job-related stress.

As understood till now, the work we do is very important to sustain a proper state of mind. Also, it is equally responsible for establishing a proper work-life balance. Whenever any such situation arises where the person senses a state of disequilibrium concerning this perceived balance, chaos ensues. It could be in the form of developing mental health disorders like depression, phobia, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even a personality disorder or psychosis.

According to Psychologist Madhumanti Majumdar, When a person is struggling with mental health issues, choosing a job can indeed be a very difficult decision. Sometimes, finding the right job can be beneficial for your mental health. However, if you’re already struggling with mental illness at work and have explored all possible options but still find it challenging to continue, it might be the best time to consider resigning. Balancing work life with mental health concerns is crucial. Before making any final decisions, it’s important to seek professional help to explore all options. This will help you understand whether the issue lies with the role itself or if it’s possible to resolve the problems arising in the workplace.

There’s no shame in resigning from a job if it’s affecting your mental health. However, financial constraints are a significant concern for many people. If you’re worried about how to manage financially while dealing with mental health issues, professional help can guide you on how to strike a balance. In such cases, it’s advisable to start looking for another job while continuing with your current one. Mental health professionals can support you in managing your current job while also helping you find a new role. This approach can help you balance your mental health and work life effectively.

Our professional fronts expect us to be in our best forms, maintaining rules, delivering our duties and responsibilities tactfully, and catering to the needs and demands of the organization. While doing so much, it genuinely becomes difficult to cater to their own needs and problems. Provided, mismanagement at the workplace may welcome severe repercussions. So, whenever there arises a mental health-related problem, the person finds it much easier and stress-free to quit the job. And the various factors triggering this decision have already been discussed.

It is to remember that:

• Quitting job could seem an easy choice, but it is bound to bring about other health related complications.
• The decision to quit one’s job is what the unstable and insecure mind feels good to do. However, the ‘Sane’ mind will question its validity.
• Financial independence of the person will be compromised.
• Economic as well as emotional burden on the family of the person would increase.
• Most importantly, Quitting Won’t solve the Problem.

Here, the best thing one can do, is to consult a professional for help. This will be followed by a course of therapeutic sessions and related activities that would help the person to deal with their mental health effectively, and adapt to the ongoing changes. It will also help them to develop better-coping strategies to continue with their work in the long run, with less suffering. A Resignation Evidence that Witness Mass Job Resignation due to Mental Health Issues.

As per extensive research conducted by the National Library of Medicine Mental health concerns precede quits: shifts in the work discourse during the Covid-19 pandemic and great resignation – PMC (nih.gov), an investigation and text-analysis were conducted related to the work and quit-related posts in 2018-2021. The need for research analysis was brought about by The Great Resignation in 2021. It was found out that the impact of COVID-19, the concepts of working from home, work shifts and switching jobs increased the job-related distress. As a result, 3.9 million workers in the USA quit their jobs in 2021.

This again, led to the increase in anxiety and other mental health problems among the masses. This phenomenon came to be known as ‘The Great Resignation’. From the economic perspective, however, this situation cannot be equated with that of India because of economic, political, cultural, social and lifestyle differences. The Great Resignation has been explained with due emphasis on the impact of situational factors (i.e, COVID-19, total lockdown, fall of share market) has been explained in The “Great Resignation” in perspective: Monthly Labor Review: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)

According to Counselling Psychologist, Radhika Juneja, One of the actions that I think is valid is quitting the job due to mental health issues – when getting rid of this job is crucial as one’s work environment has too negative effect on one’s health. Still, I believe this should not be the primary course of action and that one should first try other alternatives like asking for reasonable accommodation, work-life balance, or going to a therapist. It’s also worth tackling the problems that one may have regarding stress management or personal boundaries. However, if after these stages one’s psychological state does not improve, then it’s a good time to quit the job. Prioritizing your mental health should be done because it will in turn lead one to a place where you are productive and happy in the long run.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be stated that our will to lead a happy life is the doing of our mental health. It is the treasure we seek to secure, by aiming for happiness and wellbeing in life. At times, states of disequilibrium do arise, our efforts fall short, our intentions don’t work, and the outcomes get negative. But that never means that we should give up or stop living. It indicates that we should be more optimistic about the greater things to come in future. The situations are sure to vary from one person to another.