Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 299 g
A Thought Provoking Take on Mental Health and Work
Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 299 g
ISBN: 978-1-394-26828-3
Verlag: Wiley
Provides a comprehensive framework for understanding mental health in the workplace
Job Stress Revisited: A Thought Provoking Take on Mental Health and Work offers a critical and much-needed re-evaluation of how job stress is understood, addressed, and managed in modern workplaces. In contrast to popular narratives that individualize stress and recommend surface-level interventions, this resource challenges these assumptions by locating job stress within the very structure and nature of work itself. Drawing on more than a decade of clinical and academic experience, the author underscores how workplace environments and policies—not personal shortcomings—are often the true sources of stress-related mental health issues.
Empowering readers to become informed advocates for lasting change, the book offers a multi-dimensional exploration of job stress, informed by biological, epidemiological, and activity-centered approaches. A structured three-part format builds from foundational concepts to actionable solutions, first clearly defining essential concepts—work, health, and their intersections—before delving into critical issues such as burnout, harassment, toxic workplace dynamics, and substance use. In the final section, Durand-Moreau calls for systemic change, advocating for robust policies, workplace inspections, and structural reform rather than temporary fixes.
A practical guide for those who seek to make work environments healthier and more equitable, Job Stress Revisited: A Thought Provoking Take on Mental Health and Work: - Challenges prevailing wellness narratives by shifting focus from individuals to systemic workplace factors
- Integrates clinical insights from over 400 work-related mental health cases
- Offers a comparative international perspective, especially from Canadian and French occupational health systems
- Combines theoretical analysis with practical case studies to enhance accessibility
- Explores lesser-addressed topics such as doping at work
With vivid case studies and accessible illustrations throughout, Job Stress Revisited: A Thought Provoking Take on Mental Health and Work is essential reading for graduate and professional-level courses such as Occupational Health, Work Psychology, Organizational Behavior, and Public Health Policy. It is ideal for degree programs in Occupational Medicine, Human Resources, Public Health, and Industrial-Organizational Psychology as well as working professionals like union reps, HR, and any worker interested in this topic.
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Weitere Infos & Material
Introduction 1
Part I The Foundations: Clarifying What Health and Work Are 7
1 What Health Is 9
Who Decides What’s Health: Patients or Experts? 10
Judging Workers’ Practices and Paternalism 13
Demarcy’s Workbench at the Citroën Car Factory 14
“Workers Are Not Morons!” 16
Losing Your Job: One of the Top Occupational Risks for Workers 18
Lift With Your Legs, Not With Your Back! 20
2 Work and Employment: Is There a Difference? 23
Diverging Interests between Central Banks and Workers 24
Defining Employment is up to Statisticians 27
Human Relationships between an Employer and an Employee are Biased and Unequal 29
Non-standard and Precarious Forms of Employment 31
The Poor Social Support that MLM Workers Get from Their Peers 33
The ILO Call to Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy 36
Part II The Key Concepts to Understand Job Stress 39
3 A Job that Makes Sense: Understanding the Concept of Activity 41
John’s Return to Work Plan: A Successful Failure (or a Failed Success) 41
Real Work Goes Beyond Executing a Predetermined List of Tasks 43
What Can Make a Worker Sick May Be in the Non-visible Part of Their Work 45
The Problems of Congratulating Workers Who Rush Through Extra Work 47
Recognizing Yourself in What You Do is More Important Than Being Recognized by Others 49
Should Work Have Such a Central Place in Our Lives? 50
4 What Is Job Stress? 54
The General Adaptation Syndrome from Hans Selye 54
Is Measuring Cortisol Levels Necessary to Assess Job Stress? 57
Is Divorcing More Stressful Than Getting a Mortgage? The Fascinating World of Psychophysics 60
Coping Mechanisms and the Transactional Model of Lazarus and Folkman 63
The Job Demand–Control Model of Karasek 65
The Effort–Reward Imbalance Model of Siegrist 70
The Limitations of Questionnaires and Job Stress Quantification in Practice 72
5 Is Burnout a Thing? How Does Work Make You Sick? 75
Simone Weil’s Work-Related Suicidal Ideas as a Can Factory Worker in the 1930s 75
Why Maids Can Kill Their Employers: Louis Le Guillant and the Papin Sisters Case 78
Claude Veil and the End of the First Wave of French Psychopathologists 81
Herbert Freudenberger, the Overcommitted Psychologist Who Described His Own Burnout 83
Christina Maslach, the Rise and Academicization of the Concept of Burnout 87
Burnout is Still an Unclear Concept 60 Years After it was Coined 91
The MBI has Psychometrical Issues and Should Not Be Used for Individual Assessment 93
PTSD is Not the Only Work-Related Mental Health Diagnosis 96
Workers’ Compensation for Mental Health Conditions and Deaths 98
6 Harassment and Bullying in the Workplace 103
It’s Up To a Judge to Say Whether There is Harassment (Not a Physician) 103
Harassment, Mobbing, Bullying.: The Confusion With So Many Similar Concepts 107
Leymann’s Mobbing and Hirigoyen’s Moral Harassment 109
Josiane, the Secretary Who Has Seen the Devil in the Eyes of Her Boss 111
Toxic Personalities: A Simplistic Explanation for Work-Related Mental Health Issues 112
Enlarging the Picture: The Oriented Activity Theory 113
Looking at Josiane’s Story from the Work Rather than the Interpersonal Standpoint 117
The Difference Between What We Know, What We Say, and What We Do at Work 119
Shifting from General Averages to Precise Events with a Precise Time and Location 123
Wrapping Up with Josiane’s Story: From a “Toxic” Boss to Bad Practices and Lack of Support 125
An Argument Between a Nurse and a Surgeon 127
The Difficulty of Making Sense of Population Data on Harassment 129
7 Addictive Disorders and Work-Related Doping 131
Substance Use and Addictive Behaviors 131
Can Job Stress Cause Substance Use? 133
“Alcohol is Responsible for 20% of Workplace Injuries”: Really? 135
Looking at Substance Use at Work Beyond Potential Safety Risks 139
The Three Characteristics of a Substance: Toxicity, Effect Intensity, and Addictiveness 140
Doping: Using a Substance to Improve One’s Performance 141
Why Are People Cheating? The Game Theory 142
Lutz’s Four Reasons to Use Substances at Work 144
What About Behavioral Addictions and Work? Gambling and Workaholism 146
Daniel, a Workaholic Sales Representative 149
8 Psychosocial Factors, Hazards, and Risks 152
How Are Psychosocial Factors and Hazards Defined? 152
How Are Psychosocial Factors and Hazards Classified? 154
Exhaustivity, Objectivity, and Questionnaires Assessing Psychosocial Factors 158
Is Facing the Public a Psychosocial Hazard? The Case of the French Employment Agency 160
Are Security Guards and “Zero Tolerance Policy” Posters Preventing Psychosocial Risks? 162
Psychosocial Hazards Are Not Like Toxic Clouds Poisoning Workers 163
Part III Solutions: How Can We Put an End to Psychosocial Risks in the Workplace? 165
9 Positive Psychology in Workplaces 167
A New Trend That’s Not New 167
Positive Psychology, Capitalism, Individualism, and Ableism 169
A Systematic Review Showing Underwhelming Evidence 172
The Problem of Researcher Allegiance 175
10 What Should We Do to Make Workplaces Less Stressful? 178
What’s the Evidence Behind Interventions on Psychosocial Risks? 178
The Problem with Non-hierarchized Comprehensive Approaches 180
No, It’s Not Okay Not to Be Okay 183
A Growing International Normative Framework to Prevent Psychosocial Risks 185
Reducing Job Demands or Increasing Job Resources? 187
The Warm Fuzzies Derived from Alcoholism Programs: EAPs 189
The Role of Labor Inspectors and Penalties in the Prevention of Psychosocial Risks 190
An Attempt to Summarize and Recap the Types of Interventions and Their Interest 193
Can I Blame Those Who Use Worker-Directed Approaches? 199
Conclusion 201
Acknowledgments 203
Index 205
