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Post by silverdragon on Oct 6, 2014 8:58:41 GMT
Can being over-worked cause a breakdown on its own?...
I can find no actual "X+X=Y" that states that overwork WILL cause a mental breakdown....
Only that along with other factors it may be complicit.
And having worked a time where continual 18 hr days tied to running the bar was my life, I can say, it depends on what work you are doing.
If you enjoy your work?... no problem.
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 6, 2014 18:06:53 GMT
A mental breakdown is just that. Mental. Meaning that it's in your head. Meaning that, while external circumstances may very well be the cause of the worries that lead to your breakdown, it's still your worries that are ultimately the cause, not something someone else does. So no. Hard/excessive work will not in and of itself cause a mental breakdown, but it can be a contributing factor.
It's actually becoming more and more common for people who really want to work, but can't find a job, or at least can't find one that utilizes their skills and talents properly (i.e. engineer working at McNope's) to get a mental breakdown. Depression is quite common in those cases, because you begin to feel like you're useless to the world.
It all depends on how well you cope. Some people crack at the drop of a pin, while others never break no matter what you throw at them.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 6, 2014 20:55:11 GMT
I think it's more the hopelessness of some situations that cause breakdowns. Even if someone is working 18 hour shifts for weeks on end, it doesn't affect them as much if they can see light at the end of the tunnel and know that it's not forever. On the other hand, if a person works day after day at a job they don't like or feel has no value, and there is no end-game, then they are more likely to suffer more severe mental stress and a possible break down.
Of course, everyone is different as OziRis pointed out.
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 6, 2014 23:00:05 GMT
I think it's more the hopelessness of some situations that cause breakdowns. Even if someone is working 18 hour shifts for weeks on end, it doesn't affect them as much if they can see light at the end of the tunnel and know that it's not forever. On the other hand, if a person works day after day at a job they don't like or feel has no value, and there is no end-game, then they are more likely to suffer more severe mental stress and a possible break down. Of course, everyone is different as OziRis pointed out. Exactly. The circumstances you work under have an enormous impact. I've had a job where I was doing 16-18 hour days for months on end, but it never made me break, because I actually liked that job and some of those hours weren't even forced on me. Many days I could have gone home after 10-12 hours, but because I was working on something interesting that I took pride in, I decided to stay. It was only when a change of management threw a monkey wrench in the entire project that I started to get stressed, reduced my hours and when that didn't work, I eventually quit. |
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Post by the light works on Oct 7, 2014 0:05:14 GMT
I think the adage "find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life" applies.
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Post by silverdragon on Oct 7, 2014 7:44:48 GMT
A Friend of mine had a breakdown.... well, almost?.. he realised what was happening and got the heck out of Dodge before he dropped.
He was Over-Promoted to a position that he now considers to be toxic.
His job was to solve transport problems..... logistics... he was the one who tried to calm down screamers into logical solutions, then delegate to others to throw in a "Fix"....
Its just the pile on his desk got higher and higher.....
Too many problems arrived per day than he could successfully sort out.
How do you walk away knowing the problems are still there?...
And no one ever says thankyou, job well done.
Toxic?...
Not on a dark day in hell would I ever drive that desk.
I do the deliveries, one at a time, and go home at the end of the shift...
I do NOT worry about the next load, its not my problem.
I stop worrying about work when I turn the key in my Car ignition.... its a mental trick I taught myself, and it works just fine.
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Post by the light works on Oct 7, 2014 14:02:52 GMT
to give a literal answer: yes, mental fatigue will ultimately end in mental collapse, just as physical fatigue ends in physical collapse.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 7, 2014 14:18:22 GMT
A Friend of mine had a breakdown.... well, almost?.. he realised what was happening and got the heck out of Dodge before he dropped. He was Over-Promoted to a position that he now considers to be toxic. His job was to solve transport problems..... logistics... he was the one who tried to calm down screamers into logical solutions, then delegate to others to throw in a "Fix".... Its just the pile on his desk got higher and higher..... Too many problems arrived per day than he could successfully sort out. How do you walk away knowing the problems are still there?... And no one ever says thankyou, job well done. Toxic?... Not on a dark day in hell would I ever drive that desk. I do the deliveries, one at a time, and go home at the end of the shift... I do NOT worry about the next load, its not my problem. I stop worrying about work when I turn the key in my Car ignition.... its a mental trick I taught myself, and it works just fine. Customer service takes a special kind of person. Not necessarily one that can solve problems but one that can make the customer happy in spite of them. When I was service manager for an electrical equipment company, if a customer complained about a piece of equipment, I would first sent out our most technical people to take care of it. If they couldn't solve the problem, I would next send Earl. Earl wasn't our best technician but he had a supernatural knack at making people happy. When Earl would return from the call I'd ask if he took care of the problem. He'd say: "Well, I didn't fix the equipment but I did take care of the problem." And he was usually right. We would never hear another complaint from that customer. Now that I run my own company, I wish I still had Earl around. |
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