Psychosomatic Illness

The number of psychosomatic patients occupying beds in neurological clinics are increasing.  Attention to this occurrence is being studied by physicians with various specialties.  Working irregular hours seems to be at the root of the problem.  Studies are not limited to any one country.  In Japan photos were shown of people going to work at 6:30 AM asleep on the subway.  Overtime hours, being on call at any hour of the day or night, is a contributing factor.  Vacations are disrupted with calls on cell phone to return to work for some business emergency.  Time to rest and spend with family is on the wane.  Overtime hours are often not paid by employers since getting the job done, regardless of hours, is expected of them.  Statistics showing a high level of employment do not consider mini-jobs or part-time employment.  When someone is no longer receiving unemployment compensation, they are often considered employed by statistics even though they are still unemployed, having run out of unemployment benefits.
The cliché: “Figures lie and liars figure” has much truth.  On the human side, how often do we sacrifice family for the benefit of the employer?  Does the employer consider employee loyalty when making cuts?  Large corporations appear to be the worst offenders that will cut employment to improve the bottom line for the benefit of shareholder profits.  Smaller companies are more sympathetic to their employees.  The health of the employee has much to do with performance on the job.  When people get sick, they can’t work.  Will they receive sick pay or even have insurance to cover work-related illness?  Stress is real.  Some people can deal with stress better than others.  Psychosomatic illness is on the rise.  Taking care of your health, both mental and physical, is more important than “getting ahead” to satisfy one’s ego.  Getting rich may be the stimulus for the ego but a detriment to enjoying a rich-full life where true wealth is what we have within us and not a bank account.

When I was a technical writer for computer companies, I was appalled at the number of go-getter colleagues who treated their work there as thought it were a religion. They came in on weekends, came to work early, and were there very late each night. I suppose those who were young an single translated their enthusiasm into getting noticed and ending up with higher salaries and advance men. Those who were married began having trouble in their marriages and wondered why. They seemed stuck with fragmented lives. I never lasted very long at these places because I felt like I was trading sanity for a job. Frequented jobs resulted in a lot of unemployment and messed up health insurance. I often thought that if the companies were more humane, they'd have loyal, long-lasting workers.

Malcolm

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Good to see you posting again, Malcolm.  Missed your input.  Agree with your statement "I often thought that if the companies were more humane, they'd have loyal, long-lasting woIrkers."
We are now told that corporations are people.  If so, they act like people without  heart.

Thanks, Abe. I think corporations with heart would do better, but possibly I'm naive--you know, as a child of the 1960s.

Very good to see you here again, Malcom.  It is fun discussing things here.