This article is featured in the Sunday Telegraph and is republished with permission.
Mental health experts are seeing a growing number of people seeking help because they’re working from home.
This new cohort of patients are presenting with a myriad of issues including loneliness, social anxiety and having difficulty making conversation.
And in some cases it’s also impacting their physical health too.
The effects of remote working have been widely documented with studies showing both positive and negative impacts.
In one of the latest studies led by Jun-jie Dong from China, published this month, it concluded the shift to Work From Home (WFH) is a “double-edged sword”.
“On one hand, it positively influences mental health and job satisfaction through factors like reduced commuting time, improved work-life balance, and enhanced personal self-efficacy,” the paper states.
“On the other hand, prolonged WFH may lead to social isolation, blurred professional boundaries, and conflicts between family and work roles, which can undermine employees’ sense of belonging and team collaboration spirit, thereby negatively affecting their wellbeing.”
“Remote workers may experience higher work intensity, greater emotional exhaustion, and reduced work enthusiasm and engagement. Some organisations have also reported declines in employee productivity due to remote work, leading them to discontinue offering this option.”
Don, who did not want to give his last name, is 44 from Victoria and said he was enjoying working from home until he suffered from a slew of health issues.
He said his doctor put his problems down to his working situation.
“I’ve been working from home since Covid, and in the last few weeks I’ve had to undergo medical treatment for panic attacks, anxiety and hypertension as a result of chronic, long-term, low-grade stress,” Don said.
“This has been attributed by my doctor and counsellor as a direct result of working from home for so long.
“So I am now looking at co-working options just so I can leave the house.”
Digital Fundraising Specialist Dara Morrow, 25, understands the struggle of bonding with colleagues through a screen, but told of how WFH gave her more work opportunities as someone living in the countryside.
“I thought it would be difficult at the beginning,” Ms Morrow said.
“Living rurally, being able to WFH just gives me that flexibility and that work life balance – I‘m not wasting three hours a day in the car.
“I love where I live and I didn’t want to sacrifice that.”
Psychiatrist Samual Harvey said the majority of research shows the hybrid working model – where people split their week between the office and home – is the most beneficial for people’s mental health. However, he said it’s too soon to know the long term impacts, especially for those who do remote work full-time.
The Black Dog Institute executive director said what they do know is that for some people, working from home is not good for them.
“I have certainly had a number of people that have found that they thought they wanted to be working from home all the time, but have now decided actually it is better for them to go into the office one or two days a week,” Prof Harvey said.
He added that some of his patients have been surprised to discover the very act of commuting is also good for their mental health.
“Having to walk to the train and then walk from the train to the office, that type of regular, but sort of light physical activity is very useful for your mental health,” Prof Harvey said.
“It’s also very useful in terms of giving you time to create some barriers between your work and your home life.”
Australian Association of Psychologists Vice President Dr Katrina Norris has seen an increase in people working from home suffering from social isolation and social anxiety, particularly older Millennials and young Gen X-ers, aged between 30 and 50.
She is also seeing people who have lost the ability to interact and talk to people.
“The old phrase, use it or lose it, is true,” Dr Norris said. “If you’re not used to being around people anymore and then you’re sort of thrust into it, it can be quite overwhelming.”
Dr Norris said some of her clients are self-isolating by choice and are turning down invitations, not engaging in community events or no longer want to try anything new.
Australian Psychological Society CEO Dr Zena Burgess said she has prescribed more time in the office for some of her clients who’ve lost social confidence or are anxious about talking to people.
However, she said some are so used to being on their own the prospect of having to go into the office is like going back to school after the big holidays when you were a kid.
She often sets them small tasks first, such as ordering a coffee from their local barista and saying hello, before building up to phone calls with friends and family, and then face-to-face meetings with colleagues, even if it can be done over Teams, just to get that sense of connection.
Dr Burgess said how people get on with remote working has a lot to do with their personalities, with extroverts craving more face-to-face contact and office banter, and introverts happier to work by themselves.
One Australian Reddit post by user Jarry, sparked an online debate between the WFH extroverts and the WFH introverts, when he wrote, “Am I really the only one who hates how lonely and depressing it is, sitting in your room all day working? Never getting to have fun chats with workmates, go on team lunches or have knock off drinks?”.
While some agreed, others said they couldn’t think of anything worse than chatting to colleagues or going on team lunches and were far happier working in isolation.
McCrindle social researcher Ashley Fell said Gen Y, or Millennials, in their 30s and 40s want the option to work from home the most because they have kids and need the flexibility.
While Gen Z want to be in the office to learn from older colleagues and make an impression with the boss.
Their research found 62 per cent of Australians would choose a hybrid working week if they had the choice, a quarter would prefer to see everyone in the office all the time and 14 per cent said they would choose working from home full time.
“It’s telling that most people want the best of both worlds because I think they recognise that there are amazing benefits but also some challenges that come with kind of all in on one option or the other,” Ms Fell said.