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Old Apr 10, 2013, 06:29 AM
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costello costello is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brackenbeard View Post
I found this on The Center For Reintegration website under which it listed 5 myths about people with mental illness- especially pertaining to the workplace.

Myth #4: People with psychotic disabilities cannot tolerate stress on the job.
The Facts: The response to job-related stress, and precisely which factors will be perceived as stressful, vary among individuals with psychiatric disabilities just as they do among people without such disabilities. For all workers -- with or without psychiatric disabilities -- productivity is optimized when there is a close match between the employee's needs and his or her working conditions.
I find the statement to be circular. Or at least the 'facts' don't negate the 'myth.'

They say it's a myth that people with psych dx's can't tolerate stress on the job. That implies that they can tolerate stress. But the facts state that not everyone finds the same things to be stressful - which implies that if the person with a psych dx can find a job they don't find stressful - even if others might find it to be stressful - they'd be successful. That just leaves you back at finding a non-stressful job.

I don't know about others with psych dx's, but my son finds things to be stressful which wouldn't stress most other people. And when he gets stressed, he's ... I don't know how to describe it ... his rational mind shuts down. I guess all of us have our rational mind shut down when we're stressed. It's just that things stress him to that point that most others wouldn't find stressful. It makes it hard to function in daily life when the tiniest thing stresses you to that level. And then add on top of that he gets really paranoid...

Personally I think avoiding stress totally is the wrong answer. I encourage my son to expose himself to small amounts of stress - with support from me or others. I think it helps him to develop coping skills, self-awareness, and more resilience. It's impossible to avoid all stress. It's far better IMO to invite it into your world in small controllable doses and learn to deal with it.

Ideally a job would include support from an understanding employer who would help the employee be successful by letting him work around the disability. I don't know how to find that job for a person with a psych dx.
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Thanks for this!
Ash0198