Stigma of poor mental health is strongly present in the financial district where the work ethos and emphasis is about being strong, warrior-like and self-reliant. Displaying signs of emotional vulnerability are not always consistent within a corporate culture in the square mile that demands personal assertion, optimum resilience, robustness and decisiveness.
The irony is that the higher an individual is within the hierarchical structure of a city institution the more likely they can be to seek help. This might not be because of a huge crisis. It may be that a senior figure within a corporate structure actually seeks out counselling and psychotherapy services because they know that they don’t need to worry about privacy and confidentiality. Senior figures in the corporate world often worry about their personal anonymity within the wider healthcare environment due in large part to fears surrounding personal and professional reputational damage. They will more likely want to seek help from someone who has no connection to their place of work such is their need for anonymity.
Counselling and psychotherapy services can be attractive to senior corporate individuals as they realise that they talk openly with a professional who guarantees privacy and confidentiality. It can be an isolating experience at work in determining who to trust and who might be plotting against them in such a competitive environment. Seeing a therapist allows a safe private space to discuss concerns, review decisions and deal with underlying fears about the future.
Addiction is rife in City of London financial institutions and whilst some institutions have made some progress in producing mental health policies at work, few have developed drug policies. Individuals fear personal reputational damage if they admit to having behavioural problems. Such reputational concerns can often fuel denial and lead to an increasingly secretive world. Pressures to maintain a certain material lifestyle can deepen anxieties about the future and potentially lead to more reliance on drugs and alcohol. Work-related stress is something that should be personally defined. For one person the stress could be due to the pressure to achieve targets, for another it could be about being bullied, for others it could be the demands of long hours and an imbalance between work and home life whilst for others it might be about job security.
People can thrive within a pressured and demanding corporate working environment but the problem often comes when something starts to go wrong, either in business, personal life or at home. When something goes wrong there is greater pressure to rely on a healthy self-care regime and solid social support structure. City workers who have a problem with addiction can often perform to a satisfactory level most of the time but high functioning can unwind fairly rapidly when something goes wrong. The acid test when this occurs is having the support in place to deal with the emotional fall-out rather than relying on emotional comforts such as the usual suspects of sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling or food.
Work addiction can often be over looked as a mental health issue such is the pervading culture of long hours and high expectations for successful deal making. Work addiction can effectively be rewarded by institutions especially in sectors such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The 24/7 commitment to deal-making in M&A activity can often fuel an unhealthy lifestyle of poor diet, insufficient sleep, lack of high impact physical exercise and excessive drinking/drug taking.
Counselling and psychotherapy can help to uncover deep seated underlying life script messages from the sub-conscious that might be fuelling an unhealthy lifestyle. These may be historical family messages, or self-limiting belief systems picked up from early peer groups or schooling experiences that are no longer serving their purpose. A personal crisis can often threaten to sabotage us emotionally, physically and mentally. The truth is such a crisis can be a challenge to unfold, to unravel a new perspective and to manifest new and positive personal qualities into our life. Developing new qualities can be the route to personal transformation and better coping skills.
Call Noel now on 07852407140 to book a consultation for a private chat. Noel is based in Tooley Street, close to More London and a couple of minutes walk from London Bridge station. Noel can offer a confidential and private space for you to assess your life choices and to reflect on the implications of your decisions.
