This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 19, 2020
KUALA LUMPUR: The majority of Malaysians cannot identify signs of poor mental health, says Relate Mental Health Malaysia, an organisation seeking to raise awareness of the problem and destigmatise it.
Calling for effective educational campaigns to improve mental health literacy, Relate said even among youths, only 47% correctly identified the symptoms of depression, citing studies on the issue.
The recommendation was highlighted in a White Paper by Relate issued on Monday at its forum on “The Business Costs of Mental Health”.
The paper said mental health conditions among employees may cost RM14.46 billion or over 1% of Malaysia’s total gross domestic product.
The study, titled “Workplace mental health — The business costs”, estimates the total productivity and business costs of mental health problems in Malaysia according to absenteeism, presenteeism (working while unwell) and staff turnover attributable to mental health issues.
At an organisational level, the report estimates that there is a bill of RM123 million and RM13 million in productivity and business costs for the top two commercial employers in Malaysia, Petronas and Nestle respectively, Relate said in a media statement.
In terms of the civil service, with 1.6 million civil servants in Malaysia, the costs are proportionately higher with a total estimate of RM2.03 billion.
Relate founder Dr Chua Sook Ning, a clinical psychologist, said: “Mental health conditions are very treatable. There are many studies that clearly show the benefits of investing in educational programmes to improve mental health literacy as well as offering confidential workplace mental health support and interventions such as “employee assistance programmes”.
The World Health Organization estimated that investing RM2-RM4 per person for anxiety and depression alone can increase productive workdays by 10%. Investing in mental health is one of the most financially-sound investments a company can make,” said Dr Chua.