This is the presentation I gave for the 2020 Norfolk Developers Conference.

1. Better mental health and wellbeing
literacy for developers
Dr Nick Walsh
Lecturer in Developmental Psychology
School of Psychology, UEA
28th. February 2020
@nickwalsh100
nicholas.walsh@uea.ac.uk

2. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers – is there a problem?
• Talk will cover - how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed & Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying mechanisms
• General steps to improve the situation
*There may be things in this talk people disagree with.

3. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers – is there a problem?
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed & Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation

6. BIMA report 2019

8. Financial cost (from Stevenson/Farmer review)
• Annual cost of poor mental health to the economy between £74
billion and £99 billion
(when including additional estimates for staff turnover, falls in tax revenue and
lost output)
• Between £33 billion and £42 billion of this cost is borne by employers
(including the cost of presenteeism—i.e. individuals at work who are less than
fully productive);
• Cost to the government is between £24 billion and £27 billion
through benefits, healthcare and lost tax revenues.

9. It’s good to talk?
• 28% of surveyed UK employees feel able to involve someone at work
because many fear that it will negatively affect their job.
• 13% feel able to disclose a mental health condition to their manager
or supervisor.
• 15% of respondents reported that they had faced disciplinary
proceedings or were dismissed after disclosing a mental health
problem.

10. Workplace culture
• Generally, attitudes towards mental health in the workplace have improved.
• Only 24% of managers have received training in mental health
• There remains a pervasive culture of silence relating to mental health.
• Mental health first aid? – I have problems with this.
• 15% of UK organizations did not focus on mental health and wellbeing of
employees
• 31% of employees felt their employer did nothing to actively promote mental
wellbeing at work.
• Small businesses were almost three times as likely to admit doing nothing,
compared to large businesses (44 vs 15%).

11. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers.
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed & Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation

12. What is a mental health……..? disorder
problem
illness
disease
condition
adaptation

13. Conceptual models

14. Biopsychosocial model/contextual model
Problem can lie at
multiple levels

15. Person
Environment
Person – environment fit
PE fit = 
PE mismatch = x

16. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers.
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed & Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying brain mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation

20. Continuing Concerns About the DSM
• Reifying diagnoses
• Category or continuum
• Differentiating mental disorders from one another –
heterogeneity/comorbidity
• Use of Not Otherwise Specified diagnoses
• Clients are much more than a set of diagnostic symptoms and billing codes.
• In the creation of diagnostic criteria, the systemic, environmental,
developmental, and cultural factors can often be overlooked.
• Societal and individual values change over time – (over medicalisation?)
• Homosexuality
• Internet use

21. 21

22. People with a disorder

24. Hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology (HiToP)

25. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers.
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed
• Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation

26. Genetics
Old view (problem in the person)
• Chemical imbalances, genetic predispositions?
• A gene for………
Current view (neurodiversity - fits with evolutionary theory)
• There is a genetic effect
• Same genes, different environments
• Variations in plasticity in how people are affected by and interact with their
environment

27. Neurodiversity
• https://twitter.com/backt0nature/status/1228531629703954433

30. Causes – environmental/experiential
• Stress/trauma - biggest risk factor for mental health problems
• Cultural maladaptation/mismatch
• Reduced learning of flexible and adaptive stress-coping strategies

31. Science, 2004

34. BIMA report 2019

36. The reasons most frequently cited as causes
of work-related stress:
• Workload, especially tight deadlines,
• Too much pressure or responsibility,
• Lack of managerial support,
• Poorly managed organizational change,
• Experiencing violence, bullying or harassment
• Lack of clarity about job requirements.

39. What stresses people out? [threats to social self]

41. Symptoms = threat responses

42. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers.
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed
• Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation

43. Pharmacological treatments
• Antidepressants
• Don’t correct chemical imbalances
• Not just prescribed for depression!
• Do work for some people (1/3) – lots of heterogeneity, it’s complicated
• Side-effects, withdrawal issues
• Change brain plasticity to facilitate environmental adaptation
• Same for – no specific chemical imbalance:
• Anxiolytics
• Antipsychotics
• Mood-stabilizers

45. Shit life syndrome

48. Psychotherapy
• Person not techniques (e.g. CBT/psychoanalysis techniques)
• Facilitative interpersonal skills
• Empathy
• Alliance
• Insight
• Goal consensus/collaboration
• Genuineness/congruence
• Contextual/cultural adaptation
• Actually no agreement on what CBT is!
• How does this relate to mental health apps?

49. Talk overview
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers.
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed
• Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying psychological and brain mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation

52. Threat responses

53. N=1246

54. N=1401

56. Which model does science support?
Medical vs. Contextual model?

57. Person
Environment
Person – environment fit: summary
• Poor mental health
• Associated with cultural maladaptation
• View environment as hostile, threatening
and individual perceives themselves as
having less power to act and influence.
• Adaptation to early environments may
limit adaptation to later environments.
• Antidepressants and psychotherapy aid
this maladaptation
• Cerebellum appears to be critical brain
region associated with learning adaptive
skills.
• Early adversity appears to limit cerebellar
growth.

58. Person
Environment
Improving the person – environment fit
• Good wellbeing and mental
health (flourishing) associated
with:
• Personal development/growth
• Power to influence environment
• Competence
• Connection/belongingness
• Autonomy
• Creativity
• Meaning

60. How to tackle the problem (no silver bullet/quick fix)
• Changing the employee
• Changing other people in the employees workplace (supervisors or
coworkers)
• Changing the employee’s job characteristics
• Changing the organisational climate
• Changing the values and norms associated with the tech industry
• Changing broader values and norms associated with working and
living – 4 day week/universal basic income/neoliberalism?
• Who is responsible for my mental health!

61. Individual
(knowledge, attitude, skills,
personality, interests)
Interpersonal
(Social network)
Organisational
(environment, ethos)
Community
(cultural values, norms)
Anthroposphere/technosphere [humanity]
(public policy, technological and social systems)
Biosphere [planet earth]
(life-sustaining processes)

63. The characteristics of jobs that are known to
influence wellbeing at work
• Career outlook
• Clarity
• Fairness
• Interpersonal contact
• Job demands
• Opportunity for control
• Opportunity for skill use
• Pay
• Physical environment
• Significance
• Supervision
• Variety

64. Changing the organisational climate
• Copying areas of good practice
• E.g. Gore-tex
• Natural leadership willingness of others to follow
• Credibility is gained
(a) by demonstrating special knowledge, skill, or experience that advances a business
objective,
(b) through a series of successes, and
(c) by involving others in significant decisions.
• Commitments not assignments
• Sponsors not bosses
• Team votes if you should get a pay rise
• Dining areas (only one in each plant)

66. Changing the organisational climate
• Systemic change
• Consider systemic assumptions, concepts, values, practices, structures, rules
• Top-down and bottom-up feedback processes
• Positive organisational practices
• Building social capital and social resources
• Collective acceptance
• Collective responsibility
• Trust
• Communication
• Organisational learning
• Change poorly designed job and work environment
• Ask people what would improve their job
• HR practices
• Appraisal processes
• Promotions
• Who does HR in tech companies?

67. Stopping any workplace drama!
- the drama triangle
Person
Environment
Persecutor
Victim
Rescuer

68. Changing the dynamic!

69. Assertiveness
Doing
(Challenger)
Acceptance
Self-responsibility
(Creator)
Caring
Choice
(Coach)

71. Talk overview – Thanks for your attention!
• Current state of work-life for tech industry workers.
• Talk will cover how mental health/wellbeing phenomena is:
• Conceptualised
• Assessed
• Classified
• Caused
• Treated
• Underlying mechanisms.
• General steps to improve the situation
*There may be things in this talk people disagree with.
@nickwalsh100
nicholas.walsh@uea.ac.uk