Identity, mental health and work: How employees with mental health conditions recount stigma and the pejorative discourse of mental illness

Abstract

This paper asks how identity is constructed for individuals with mental health conditions (hereafter abbreviated as MHCs) in the workplace. It takes especial regard to how MHCs are discursively situated, constructed and reconstructed in the workplace. Employees with MHCs face a difficult situation: not only do they need to deal with the stigma and discrimination commonly associated with MHCs, they must also manage their health condition whilst adhering to organisational demands to demonstrate performance and commitment to work. Discourse analysis derived from 32 interviews with individuals with MHCs delineates how these individuals feel both stigmatised and empowered by their MHCs. The findings address three discursive strands: (1) Reaffirmation of the social stigma and a pejorative construction of a mental health subject position in employment and society; (2) Contesting 'mental illness' as a less productive form of subjectivity by embracing mental health management skills within the employment context; and (3) Recounting mental health as a disempowered subjectivity through public disclosure and change. This paper enhances understanding of how the construction of positive identity in the face of negative attributions associated with MHCs contributes to literature on identity, organisations and stigma as well as raising implications for policy and practice.

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