According to research published in The Lancet, around half of us can expect to develop a mental health condition in our lifetimes. Mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder affect families in different countries around the globe.
Families function as systems, where the well-being and behaviours of one family member affect all the rest—and the family system as a whole. This means that when one or more family members live with a mental health disorder, it impacts different family relationships, dynamics, and structures.
When families both live and work together, this impact passes from home to work life. Altered patterns of family relationships, dynamics, and structures affect the way a family business functions, influencing decision-making and the capacity to work as a team.
In a family business, mental health challenges within the family inevitably impact both work and family life. However, this impact is shaped by the way families respond to these challenges and the coping resources they possess.
In some cases, the stress caused by mental health disorders can cause conflicts and tensions that rebound in the workplace, paralysing decision-making and teamwork. Yet, with resilience, flexibility, and commitment to one another, families can reorganise and restructure to accommodate and support a loved one, both at work and at home.
This blog offers some information about the impact of mental health challenges on family businesses and how developing coping resources can build cohesion and resilience.
Stigma and the Silencing of Mental Health Adversity
Unfortunately, stigma surrounding mental health disorders is still common in many parts of society. Social stigma, discrimination, and internalised stigma can cause different forms of harm, from low self-confidence to exclusion and isolation. One impact of stigma is that it prevents people from seeking help when they face mental health challenges. They may feel anxious about how other people will respond and the social consequences that may follow.
In a family context, stigma and perceived stigma can cause a culture of silencing, where other family members try to hide or deny their relative’s mental health challenges. This pressure may intensify in family businesses when families fear the impact of stigma not only on social relations but also on business ties and reputation.
However, these actions can be detrimental to the well-being of individuals, families, and businesses. Recovery from mental health disorders requires professional treatment, and without encouragement from loved ones, it can be hard for an individual to reach out for help. This leads to experiences of ongoing distress in families, which are not equipped to provide the kind of support their loved one requires to recover.
Mental Health Disorders and Stress in the Family
Mental health symptoms of any kind are often accompanied by stress. Mental health challenges can make everyday life hard to navigate, and previously routine tasks can require a lot of energy and strength. Managing and coping with symptoms – even with effective treatment – requires time and commitment, intensifying the demands of daily life.
This stress is often felt by families, too. Family members may worry about their loved one’s well-being or feel frustrated by some of their behaviours. They may feel exhausted from the emotional burden of anxiety and emotional care. Uncertainty about the future and changes to routine can also cause stress and instability.
However, while these experiences can be hard, families also have the potential to provide extraordinary support for a loved one, working together to create a nurturing environment that cares for each family member. By reorganising family structures and developing new skills, families can gain resilience, strength, and unity.
Combining Work and Family Life: Enrichment or Interference?
Even without a family business, work and family life inevitably interact. Sometimes, they interfere with one another. Stressful events in the family may affect energy and concentration at work, or vice versa. Work and family commitments may coincide and overlap, creating conflicts and stress. In family businesses, these interferences may be even more common and extensive.
However, interactions between work and family can also be positive and enriching. For example, supportive family relationships can improve a person’s self-efficacy and performance in their job. Behaviours and skills that are learnt and practised in one setting may be applied to the other, enhancing both roles.
In a family business, the interactions between work and family life are even greater than usual. This means that individuals and families are likely to experience more frequent or intense moments of both interference and enrichment. Conflicts at home may resonate throughout the workplace, paralysing decision-making and jeopardising teamwork. On the other hand, family business can offer unique opportunities for adaptability, support, and care.
Coping Resources and Stressors
When families work together, mental health disorders can create additional stress. Family members are required to cope with the emotional and social consequences not only at home but also at work. This can make it harder for families to recharge and look after their own well-being. It may also increase tensions in relationships.
On the other hand, family businesses can also offer flexibility for a person with a mental health disorder to take on a role that reflects their current needs. Family relations in the workplace may also offer more care, consideration, and support than the usual relationships between colleagues. When families are able to reorganise their business to accommodate and support their loved one, it may improve their cohesiveness and resilience as a team.
According to Miller et Al., different features of the family system determine the impact of mental health challenges in the family on the individual, the family, and the family business.
- Coping resources within the family, such as flexibility, caring relationships, and a readiness to adapt, enable family businesses to respond to mental health challenges with cohesion and resilience
- Aggravating stressors make it more likely that mental health challenges will harm relations and dynamics at home and in the family business
Coping Resources
Some examples of coping resources in a family business may include:
- The flexibility to design and adapt work responsibilities and tasks to reflect the skills and needs of each family member
- A shared understanding of mental health disorders and how to support a loved one’s recovery
- Trusting and supportive relationships between family members
- Investment in training and social support
Stressors
Some examples of dynamics and structures that may cause additional stress include:
- Hierarchies in the family business that cause the needs of certain family members to be overlooked
- Inflexibility or reluctance to adapt the roles of family members to meet their needs
- Preoccupation with reputation and stigma, leading to the denial of mental health challenges
- Hostile emotional conflict between family members
Towards Cohesiveness and Resiliance: Building Coping Resources in Families and Family Businesses
Mental health disorders will affect most families, and, consequently, most family businesses. However, with effective coping resources, family businesses can facilitate a family member’s recovery by adapting roles and functions to reflect their loved one’s needs, while reinforcing trusting and supportive relationships at home and in the workplace.
While some families may already possess these resources, others will need to build them. Families can also benefit from identifying unhelpful dynamics at home and within their business that could exacerbate stress and conflicts caused by mental health challenges.
For family businesses, building coping resources and transforming negative stressors may involve:
- Improving collective understanding of mental health disorders
- Increasing flexibility of roles and tasks in the workplace
- Challenging stigmas related to mental health disorders, recognising and accepting the presence of mental health challenges, and encouraging family members to seek professional support
- Fostering supportive and caring relations by developing skills like open communication and conflict resolution
- Establishing skills training and social support structures within the family business
The Wave Clinic: Specialist Mental Health Support for Families
The Wave Clinic offers residential and outpatient mental health support for young people and families living with mental health concerns. Our programs offer a diverse selection of evidence-based modalities, alongside enriching experiences that enable young people and families to establish new dynamics and ways of being through practice. We focus on building self-confidence, developing life skills, and developing each individual’s role in the family and community.
Our programs are trauma-focused, sensitively and carefully addressing past experiences that shape the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of young people and families today.
We offer fourteen and twenty-one-day family intensives for families who have experienced family trauma, mental health concerns in the family, separation, compulsive sexual behaviours, and other psychological and social challenges.
If you’re interested in our programs, contact us today.
