A survey conducted by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) found that six in 10 employees wished they could afford to quit their jobs.
Mental health conditions in South Africa are deteriorating, particularly among the working class and youth, as socio-economic strains deepen.
Released last week on World Mental Health Day, a survey conducted by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) found that six in 10 employees wished they could afford to quit their jobs.
Half of the respondents said they were unhappy when starting work on a Monday morning, which “could be indicative of the negative work environments they are exposed to”.
However, the tough economic conditions — inflation, the high cost of living, job losses and rampant unemployment — made having a job seem like “a privilege”.
Despite recognising this, employees still reported feeling “completely stressed out” at work, said Dr Bronwyn Dworzanowski-Venter, a senior research associate at the University of Johannesburg, who spoke at the launch of the survey.
“It’s not absolutely shocking and surprising that this is a global and a local issue, but in South Africa, it’s almost more of a compressed issue because there’s a sense of, ‘You’re lucky to be employed and, if you don’t like the conditions, there’s the door,’” she said.
While doing research for Sadag in 2020, when she looked at the pandemic lockdowns as a unique stressor, and later in 2023 when she looked at load-shedding as a unique stressor, a common theme emerged — work.
“Work was the big stressor, particularly for people who owned their own businesses or had to work from home, but also for people in workplaces. They were very worried about job losses and the economic impact of Covid-19, the economic impact of load-shedding, all of it snowballing and becoming an avalanche of stress,” she said.
After Covid-19, Sadag did not see a huge spike in stress, instead, there was an ongoing rise, indicating that people were “consistently troubled”.
According to the survey, 52% of those questioned had been medically diagnosed with a mental health condition.
The majority of these workers were depressed (32%), clinically stressed (25%), generally anxious (18%) and experiencing burnout (13%).
Lindsey Reynolds, managing director at Pivot Collective, a health and social sciences research company, told the Mail & Guardian that their research indicated South Africans have a diverse collection of issues, but the youth stand out as a key group suffering from mental health conditions.
“Unemployment rates are extremely high amongst young people, who are at that highest-risk phase of life for struggling with mental health issues.
“They often don’t have access to good medical care …They often don’t have as much economic power or decision-making power in society, which compounds that sense of not being able to do anything about the struggles that they face.”
In the second quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate among those between the ages of 15 and 24 remained the highest at 60.8%, followed by the 25 to 34 age group at 41.7%, according to Statistics South Africa.
Around 3.6 million out of 10.3 million people aged 15 to 24 years were not in employment, education or training during the period.
“So, it really is that nexus of issues that face young South Africans as the group that is most affected by mental health issues that is so complicated to disentangle.” Reynolds said.
Dworzanowski-Venter said that, for the working class, the main driver of the stress was too much work for too little pay.
“I think what we definitely need to understand is this idea that people, no matter what their employment is, are stressed, burnt out and extremely, extremely tired.
“We can’t stop thinking about work when we’re not at work.”
She said that although 61% of respondents wished they could quit their jobs, “60% actually enjoy their work”.
“So, it’s not necessarily the work itself, it’s how the work is arranged, and one of the biggest factors around how work is arranged is pay not keeping up with inflation,” she said.
In 2023, the Employee Assistance Programmes Association South Africa found that one quarter of the country’s employees were likely to be diagnosed with depression during their employment, but only 15% to 25% sought and received help.
The association also highlighted that mental disorders led to significant productivity losses, estimating that absenteeism due to depression costs the South African economy about R19 billion annually.
According to Sapien Labs’ Annual Mental State of the World Report 2021, published in March 2022, South Africa scored the lowest average on the global mental health well-being scale, highlighting the strain of increasingly stressful living and working conditions across the country.
A study conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand Medical Research Council Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit found that more than a quarter of South Africans are susceptible to depression — more than any other country — and are not seeking help.
Mental illnesses are driven by adverse childhood experiences, socio-economic status, geographic location, age, marital status and education levels, according to the study.
It found that mental illness is experienced in both rural and urban regions.
“A third of the South African population and 74% of poor South Africans live in rural areas. While it is believed that individuals in more impoverished rural areas are more susceptible to experiencing mental illness, recent reports reveal that young adults in urban areas seem to experience a higher level of depression when compared to their rural counterparts.
The prevalence of mental illness was different across all nine provinces, with higher rates in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
But according to Dr Ashleigh Craig, a researcher in the unit, it is difficult for people who are living with mental health conditions to escape the poverty cycle to seek help, causing “intergenerational effects”.
Clinical psychologist Anele Siswana told the M&G that he had noticed a shift in the way people were perceiving mental health conditions, in that they are beginning to normalise speaking about their struggles.
“This change can be attributed to several factors, including growing public awareness about mental health issues, a reduction in stigma and the widespread availability of information through media and social platforms,” Siswana said.
“People are more educated about mental well-being and there is a greater understanding that mental health is just as important as physical health.
“Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic also played a significant role, as it prompted more discussions about mental health challenges and the importance of seeking help,” he added.
New mental health treatments were beginning to emerge which were making mental health more accessible, including holistic approaches which incorporated biological, psychological, social and cultural factors.