Rising depression an ‘invisible disability deepening here’

A surge in depression and anxiety is placing new pressure on workplaces, schools, and families, prompting an advocate and a business leader to agree that the country can no longer treat mental health as a hidden issue.

The Barbados Council for the Disabled described depression as an “invisible disability” with growing social and economic consequences. According to the World Health Organisation, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

Rosanna Tudor, BCD operations manager, revealed that decades of advocating for people with disabilities have shown that hidden disabilities are not minor and contribute significantly to the challenges affecting society today.

“These are the disabilities we do not see: anxiety, depression, trauma, cognitive, and neurological conditions. Yet they are shaping how people function, how they cope, and in some cases, how they break,” she said.

Tudor referred to these invisible disabilities as crises with economic consequences.

“In Barbados, our greatest resource is our people. But when that resource is under silent strain, the impact is clear: reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, burnout, and disengagement.”

She pointed to the challenge workplaces are facing while absorbing the cost of hurdles they are not equipped to manage.

“We cannot build a sustainable economy on a workforce that is silently struggling. We already had to wait years to achieve some success with ‘visible’ disabilities.”

Executive director of the Barbados Employers Confederation, Sheena Mayers-Granville, backed Tudor’s assessment, stressing a noticeable increase in cases of depression and other mental health issues presenting in the workplace.

She noted that employers have been taking a compassionate approach in dealing with employees who present with these challenges.

“I think as a society we’ve matured to the point where we do recognise that mental health is very important and when persons present at work with mental health issues, then it’s treated just as serious as a physical ailment.”

“I have had employers who have supported employees through their employee assistance programmes to seek counselling, who’ve worked with employees to facilitate them with time away from work to work process, whatever is happening, and also work with them to reintegrate them back into the workplace.”

She further explained that while employers may be unable to give full assistance to help someone through their challenges, they “try their best to see what they can do and then how they can work alongside that person to ensure that they are integrated within the organisation”.

The BEC head admitted that such instances do affect productivity levels in the workplace:

“An employee who is not in 100 per cent health, of course, they’re not going to perform at their peak, so their productivity is going to be lower.”

“What employers also have to manage, which very often people don’t think about, is I have to manage the employees who are left behind. When I have an employee who’s out or who’s producing less, someone has to pick up that slack because at the end of the day, the employer, the business still needs to function because it still is providing employment and livelihood for those other employees.”

She noted that this often poses the challenge of balancing support for affected employees while ensuring other staff members are not overstretched.

“It’s navigating that balance, and I think that’s where employers sometimes find themselves in a difficult space because one, you put some guardrails around that one employee, but while still making sure that the remaining team is able to have some balance and manage through.”

While employers grapple with the impact on productivity, Tudor warned that families are often carrying the heaviest emotional burden:

“Families are carrying burdens they were never prepared for. Parents are navigating children with emotional and psychological challenges without guidance. Spouses are managing strain. Caregivers are overwhelmed. This is disability advocacy all over again.”

“Too often, these struggles remain hidden until they surface in the most tragic ways. We are not just witnessing individual distress. We are witnessing the erosion of family stability.”

She also pointed to the increasing instances of crime and the ripple effect on communities:

“We cannot ignore the increasing fatalities arising from gun violence and the growing exposure to trauma within our communities. Each incident leaves more than a headline. It leaves fear, grief, and unresolved emotional wounds. 

“But when trauma is not addressed, it does not disappear. It is internalised and too often repeated. What we are witnessing is not just violence. It is the consequence of trauma left untreated.”

The disabilities advocate argued that communities cannot wait to act.

“If we continue to wait for the next crisis before acting, we risk undermining even the strongest legislative intentions.”

“Simple, effective programmes are providing safe spaces for people to be heard, removing barriers like cost, stigma, and fear,” she added.

Senior Psychologist with the Ministry of Education, Dr Juanita Brathwaite-Wharton, revealed that the ministry is currently drafting a psychosocial support policy.

“In conjunction with UNICEF and The University of the West Indies, and so that policy will look at improving what we presently do so that we are more impactful in terms of identifying and intervening with students with any issues that impact their mental wellbeing.”

The senior psychologist revealed that the ministry had observed an increase in students presenting with anxiety and depression symptoms, mainly at the secondary school level.

“The fact that children are exposed to a lot more than we were exposed to when we were their age, primarily because they are mostly operating on the digital space where they’re exposed to everything under the sun, including things like geopolitical issues, climate change, social engagement patterns of young people both locally and internationally and doing a lot of comparisons.”

“This impacts your self-esteem when what is being put out there looks as though it is perfect.”

She explained that children are internalising images and activities on social media, which has a negative impact on their self-esteem and mental well-being.

To deal with the increase in students needing mental health support at schools, the ministry has invested significantly in support services over the last five to six years, including an increase in psychologists, social workers, safety officers, and guidance counsellors working alongside schools.

“Students can self-refer at secondary, or they’re referred by parents and teachers or school administrators, both at primary and secondary, and psychologists would evaluate and make recommendations on what interventions need to be put in place to improve whatever the concerns are.”

The ministry also works with private mental health agencies and facilities that provide support in collaboration with the government.

Dr Brathwaite-Wharton noted that one of the ministry’s major concerns is that students are self-medicating instead of receiving proper treatment.

“If you look at the statistics coming out from the National Council on Substance Abuse, we see that there is an increase in young persons using substances from as young as primary school, and so that definitely plays a part in terms of some of the concerns that are presented within the school setting.”

“We know that substances sometimes alter a person’s mood. They also impact our ability to speak clearly, so there’s cognitive impairment. That would affect a person’s management of situations.”

The senior psychologist also revealed that these issues have additional effects on children’s development:

“A bigger impact is our children’s lack of social and emotional skills, conflict resolution, anger management, problem solving, and for that reason, through education transformation, we have revised and revamped the positive behaviour management program coming out of the Ministry of Education.”

She explained that the programme, conducted in conjunction with the Ministry of People’s Empowerment, the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Health, and other agencies, focuses on social and emotional learning while improving systems to identify and support struggling students.

 

(LG)