For those of us old enough to recall, there was a catchy little tune back in 1988 called “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin. If you know the song, it’s probably bur- rowing through your brain like an earworm right now. Sorry about that.
The song speaks to being positive about things in life to not let things bother you and bring you down.
Ah, but if only life were that simple. So, here’s a little editorial I wrote...Unfortunately, for a lot of people, a chemical imbalance in the brain won’t simply let people be happy unless they seek help and are prescribed medication none of that over-the-counter stuff or self-medicating, please.
According to data from Johns Hopkins Medical, an estimated 26 percent of Americans aged 18 and older that’s just over one in four adults suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder.
John Hopkins Medical also noted that many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time one could suffer from depression and also battle a host of anxiety disorders.
At 26 percent 1 in 4 that’s a lot of people. Take a look around your workplace. At 26 percent, it could be four people who suffer from it. It could be all of them, or it could be none of them. But no one knows.According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, one in five Canadians 20 percent experiences a mental illness. And, by the time a Canadian reaches the age of 40, one out of every two people will have or will have had a mental illness episode. It is probably the same approximation for Americans.
It could be anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or some form of schizo affective disorder. It could also be needing to kill the pain with alcohol or drugs or to fill the void with out-of-control gambling addictionis usually part of the DNA that is a mental health issue.
I can’t pretend to know how difficult it is to have a mental health issue because I have not personally experienced one, but it’s there in my family, and it ain’t no fun. It ain’t no fun for them, and it ain’t no fun for anyone around them.
This scenario does not affect the trucking industry: with many individuals being able to work from home and never see others except perhaps virtually, this new normal also comes with its own set of troubles such as stress, burnout, loneliness, and anxiety. Relax, boss. Andrew is fine and is talking in a general manner about others.But drivers certainly feel the loneliness of the road. Truck technicians on the road may fare better, as they see different people all the time. But, loneliness can affect anyone, anywhere, and anytime.
But truck mechanics working in a shop may feel some mental health stress as they go from bay to bay and job to job, lubing this and tightening that, hour after hour and day after day.
It can be a lonely existence simply going about your duties especially when your shop requires a specific amount of work that must be completed daily.
As in any profession, some people man- age situations with feelings of stress, while for others it’s nothing more than simply a job to do.
According to the American Psycho- logical Association, the US economy loses over $500 billion annually due to workplace stress, adding that 550 million workdays are lost annually because of job stress.
A 2012 survey of 316 male truck drivers aged 23–76 was eye-opening, as it found that they experienced loneliness (27.9 percent), depression (26.9 percent), chronic sleep disturbances (20.6 percent), anxiety (14.5 percent), and other emotional problems (13 percent).
Just who were these people who were surveyed? They were random truck drivers visiting a truck stop located within a 100- mile radius of Greensboro, North Carolina, who each provided answers to a total of 82 different questions.
These 316 honest folks were mainly full- time, long-haul drivers with over five years of experience who spent over 17 days on the road per month.
While almost 75 percent (about 237 people) said their health was “good”, 83.4 percent (~263 people) added that they were overweight or obese which gives new meaning to the phrase: “We got a great big convoy, ain’t she a beautiful sight?”The results showed that 57.9 percent (183 truckers) had sleeping disturbances,56.3 percent (178 drivers) felt they were fatigued, 42.3 percent (~134 people) suffered from some form of a musculoskeletal disorder, and about 40 percent (126 truckers) had cardiovascular disease concerns.
It’s pretty interesting, considering over 80 percent said their health was good. Good health for a trucker means having to suffer quietly. No pain, no gain. That was sarcasm, by the way.
That survey also found that of the 316 truckers queried, about 33 percent (104 people) had no health insurance, 70 percent (221 people) had no regular healthcare visits, and 24.4 percent (77 people) said that they could not afford insurance.Additionally, 42.1 percent (133 people)
admitted that they took over-the-counter drugs when sick, while 20.1 percent (~63 people) waited until they reached home before seeking medical care.
If we add that 70 percent of the respondents say they don’t regularly exercise, then it’s pretty obvious that truckers pigeon-holed themselves as being part of an unhealthy occupation at least those 316 male drivers did back in 2012.
And this is just the driver. What about the truck technicians? I want to know—I’ve got a son about to embark on training to be a truck tech.
He was already a bit freaked out after we met a just-retired gentleman who had been an honest-to-gosh on-the-road service truck technician. He and my son couldn’t quite shake hands owing to Bob’s gnarled fingers the result, he said, of a lifetime of work rather than any one particular injury.
Bob seemed pretty happy, but that’s the thing about mental health the smiling face could simply be a mirage meant to hide the truth. Handshakes aside, Bob may have been perfectly healthy, though it’s also possible he wasn’t.
I listened to a recent WrenchWay podcast (https://wrenchway.com/blog/ mental-health-of-technicians/). It talked with Joshua Taylor, the founder of Wrench Turners Online (www.wrenchturners. online) and Just Work Hard Consulting, who offered some interesting information on truck technicians and mental health.
I suggest you give it a listen—but in the interim, I’ll provide the gist of the subject.Taylor is a 20+ year licensed auto mechanic who provides advice as well as a voice for what he calls his brothers and sisters in the tech industry to talk to should they be feeling sad.
In the webinar, he acknowledged that the manager-technician relationship is very complex, and too often not enough time is spent to allow this relationship to be some- thing other than “There’s the job—let me know when you’re done.”
It isn’t an easy relationship to establish, and it’s even more difficult for both parties to do it correctly.
Often, a manager may believe they are on the same page as the tech, but the odds are high that they aren’t.
The truck technician industry is still a macho industry emotionally, much to the chagrin of the women who participate in it. No one is saying you need to cry for either sex but if you do, that is okay, too. It’s healthier to wallow in your emotions than to place them behind an impenetrable wall.
Within the relationship between the manager and technician, too often both par- ties tend to blather out the first thing that comes to mind something that Joshua Taylor said tends to make a problem bubble with resentment.
“Sometimes, we each need to pause, breathe, and think about what was said,” stated Taylor.We need to be empathic we need to understand where the other person is coming from before responding accordingly. Taylor said we need to avoid the knee-jerk reactions that people as a species tend to be prone to.
To build that relationship beyond the boss-employee stage, one of the first questions that should be asked is, “Are you happy fixing vehicles?”
The person being asked may get defensive when asked something like that, so it’s important to acknowledge why you are asking. If you don’t know, then perhaps you need to watch the webinar but, you are doing so because you want to ensure they are in a good place.
Yes, everyone wants more money, which is why they love the chance to be a truck technician. However, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US) stated that annually, some 311 people who identified as mechanics killed them selves. Every single year.
Even one person a year dying is one person too many.
The CDC said that the mechanic profession has the third-highest rate of suicide of all the professions. Great, something more for a father to have to worry about.
But truth be told, a lot of mental health issues tend to manifest themselves at the age of 18 or older, so my son’s mental health was always something I was going to do my best to monitor.
And yet, being vigilant for others isn’t enough. Don’t expect others to save you. Sometimes you also need to take the initial steps to save yourself.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. For further help:US: Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) toreach a 24 hour crisis center, or text MHA to 741741 at the Crisis Text Line. MHA is Mental Health America.Canada: To connect with a mental health professional one-on-one: Call 1-866- 585-0445 or text WELLNESS to 741741 for adults. Via Wellness Together Canada.
You’ve got to start somewhere. It might as well start with a “hello” from someone at the other end of the phone who cares and wants to help.
This article originally appeared in the October/November 2023 issue of Service Truck Magazine.