Over 70% of entrepreneurs have mental health problems

It requires mental toughness, determination, and self-belief. In so many different ways, being an entrepreneur is hard. Raising funds, answering consumer questions, controlling workers, or managing unpredictable income are all ongoing issues.

Particularly in South Africa, company owners confront additional difficulties such as load shedding, rising mortgage rates, and high fuel costs that reduce productivity and, as a result, profit margins.

Entrepreneurial leaders' mental health may be impacted by all of these issues. When you are focused on developing other aspects of a successful entrepreneurial business, taking your mental health for granted is simple. According to UC Berkeley research, up to 72% of entrepreneurs were found to have some sort of mental health condition.

At least 30% of the entrepreneurs polled said they had experienced depression in the past; 19% said they had ADHD; 12% had problems with drug misuse, and 11% said they had the bipolar illness.

Being an entrepreneur does not necessarily cause these problems, but it might worsen them because of its occasionally stressful nature.

Fatima Seedat, the development manager at Sadag (South African Depression and Anxiety Group), underlined the negative impacts of living an entrepreneurial lifestyle and offered some coping mechanisms.

The repercussions of entrepreneurship, according to her, "may be quite stressful as one balances leading a team, communicating with clients, making crucial choices, and having duties... Additionally, one must strike a balance between their social, professional, and personal life.

High levels of stress, sadness, and anxiety may be crippling and may affect a person's ability to function, as well as their eating and sleeping habits and propensity for hazardous behaviour. Individuals may go through emotional ups and downs, including emotions of grief, helplessness, and overwhelm.