Suffering: a familiar yet hot issue
We all know how much energy, imagination, dedication, audacity – if not outright adventurism – it takes to start up a new business. We also understand what this entails for business owners in terms of risk-taking, dangers, and tension, often brought to a peak in bankruptcy procedures. Olivier Torres, Economy Professor in the University of Montpellier, and head of the Entrepreneurs’ Mental Health Observatory AMAROK (www.observatoire-amarok.net), points out that “the business owner’s health capital is the SME’s chief intangible asset.”1 In firms – most of them small – facing such procedures, the ensuing difficulties have a direct impact on business owners’ psychological health. During court hearings, judges, liquidators and court clerks are increasingly witness to scenes of mental breakdown, involving fits of crying, stress, despair, and even clearly articulated suicidal ideas.
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