Mental health shame and the complex interplay between occupational prestige and mental health

The emotion of shame is implicated as both a symptom and a critical aetiological factor that can impact mental health and well-being. This study evaluated levels of shame-based attitudes toward mental health problems in Australian workers and explored relationships between community and family negative mental health attitudes, mental health shame, and mental health symptoms. The study also explored whether the workplace-based variables of occupational prestige and field of work impacted shame-based attitudes in workers. Employed individuals (n = 226) were assessed on measures of psychological distress and mental health shame via an online survey-based study. Study outcomes showed strong positive relationships between mental health attitudes, mental health shame, and mental health symptoms. Overall, workers with lower occupational prestige reported higher levels of mental health shame compared to workers with high occupational prestige, but workers with high occupational prestige and high mental health symptoms reported the highest levels of mental health shame. Field of work was not a significant predictor of shame-based mental health attitudes. This suggests that interventions to address mental health shame would be most effective when targeted at workers with low occupational prestige regardless of levels of mental health symptoms and workers with high occupational prestige and severe mental health symptoms. Clinicians treating individuals with high levels of mental health symptoms should be aware that those working in positions associated with high levels of occupational prestige are more likely to be impacted by mental health shame.