Looking After Mental Health

North’s series of articles about crew health and fitness have so far looked at measuring fitness levels, strengthening core muscles to try to avoid back problems, exercising to avoid obesity and healthy eating. This article will look at the vitally important subject of mental health.

Mental health problems, which can be something of a taboo topic among ‘tough’ seafarers, may occur for many reasons.  The lifestyle of modern seafarers means they are potentially subject to many forms of mental stress.

Causes and Risks

Being away from home, working long hours, having little opportunity for time away from the ship due to security restrictions, remoteness of ports or fast turnaround, the feeling of isolation that can occur onboard due to being part of a multinational crew or through lack of opportunities for socialising – these are just some of the factors that can affect the mental health of seafarers.

Mental health problems are important not only to individual seafarers, their families and shipmates but also to the organisations for which they work. Mental health problems can cost employers in terms of reduced performance by the affected individuals as well as introduce unnecessary risks to vessels, other crew members and to the individuals themselves.

Spotting the Signs

The early identification of potential mental-health problems on board is vital. Quite often the first sign of a problem may be poor performance in the job and, where a seafarer’s performance takes a noticeable dip, there may be an underlying problem that could also give rise to mental-health issues.

Changes in mood, people becoming withdrawn, minor physical ailments, sleep problems and disruptive behaviour are all signs that may indicate problems.  Very often when the signs are picked up the problems can be dealt with in the early stages and more serious problems will not develop.

Avoiding Problems

Perhaps the best ways of avoiding serious problems developing are:

• to encourage awareness of mental-health issues among seafarers at safety meetings and on other appropriate occasions
• to encourage communication between crew members
• to enhance the social aspect of life onboard ships.

Having a crew that is close knit and of high morale helps to keep mental health problems at bay. It means that problems are more likely to be spotted early if they do occur, thus helping to maintain the smooth and cost-efficient running of the vessel.

Remember that if someone seems out of sorts, there is usually a reason for it.

The International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare has produced a useful publication about care of seafarer’s mental health entitled Guidelines for Mental Care Onboard Merchant Ships, which can be downloaded from its website:

https://seafarerswelfare.org/ship-shop/good-mental-health-guide

International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare, Gresham House, 53 Clarendon Road, Watford, WD17 1LA, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 1923 222 653. Email: icsw@icsw.org.uk  Website: www.seafarershealth.org