Stress is now the top reason for sick leave
As a new report reveals stress is now the most common reason for long-term sick leave, Spree finds out why a healthy body starts in the mind.
For many people, stress is a normal part of working life.
But in the current economic climate, work-related anxiety has become so intense that many employees simply can’t cope.
As a result, stress is now the number one cause of long-term sickness absence.
A new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and health-care company Simplyhealth has found stress has, for the first time, moved ahead of problems such as repetitive strain injury or acute medical conditions such as cancer to become the top reason for taking sick leave of four weeks or longer in the UK.
The study also found a link between job security and mental health issues, with employers planning redundancies significantly more likely to report problems among staff.
Overall, an average public sector employee has 9.1 days a year off sick, compared to 7.1 days for workers in the private sector and 5.7 days in the manufacturing industry, according to the CIPD.
If the cause of that sick leave is stress, Dr Steve Mowle, vice-chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, says there may be any number of physical manifestations.
These include headaches, back and neck pain – linked to increased tension in the body – chest pain, panic attacks and eye strain. Sleep and concentration may also be affected.
Dr Mowle said: “People may have no physical signs of stress, but simply feel overwhelmed by the level of stress at work.”
He says the amount of stress each person can cope with is variable, and GPs will try to measure symptoms against the effect they’re having on the patient’s life.
The more serious effects of stress can include cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes, linked to high blood pressure.
When a person is stressed, steroid hormones are released in the body, and such hormones can raise blood pressure.
Dr Mowle said: “It’s not just the stress, it’s the fact that if you’ve got a stressful job you might drink or smoke more, eat less healthily and exercise less”.
If a person goes to their GP suffering from stress, the doctor will want to know what the impact is on the patient’s life and work before signing them off.
They may be referred to another practitioner for cognitive behavioural therapy, counselling, or perhaps to an occupational health specialist. If the stress has caused depression, anti-depressant drugs may be prescribed.
Dr Mowle said: “GPs are undoubtedly seeing lots of employees in various states of distress linked to uncertainty surrounding their job, or because of the threat of redundancy.
“There are a lot of unhappy patients out there, whose lives have been turned upside down by what’s happening at work.
“If stress is having a persistently negative effect on your health, either mental or physical, go and see your GP.
“The GP is the right person to help navigate you out of the situation and find strategies for dealing with it.”
However, consultant psychiatrist Dr Cosmo Hallstrom, a spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says it’s important for sufferers to try to recognise for themselves what the root of the problem is.
He said: “Look at what’s going on – step back a bit emotionally and try and work out what’s happening.
“Sometimes situations are stressful and need to be adjusted, other times it may be your reaction to it. But just persisting with it indefinitely isn’t good. The danger of seeing a doctor is that they medicalise everything, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you come out with a medical solution. That may or may not be the right thing.”
The psychiatrist says that while medication may help in certain situations, he doesn’t believe people should take pills unless they’ve developed an illness, such as depression.
He said: “It depends what you think the medication can achieve. Long-term medication for an outside problem is probably not a good idea.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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