More missing days due to mental illness

Stress at work: More and more employees are missing due to mental illness in the workplace

04/30/2012

In 2010, German citizens were missing 53.5 million days in the workplace due to mental illness. According to a small request from the group „The left“ To the Federal Government, the number of absentee days due to mental illness has risen massively in recent years. Nevertheless, the black-yellow coalition sees no need for action to initiate laws against stress in the workplace.

Over 53.5 million job losses have caused sick leave due to mental illness and behavioral problems in the last year of 2011. According to the Federal Government, which responded to a request from the Left Party, the reasons for this vary. According to a study by the Federal Ministry of Labor, the Germans still lacked 33.6 million days a year in 2001. In 2010, the number of mentally-related sick leave increased to 53.5 million days lost. According to the long-term comparison, the proportion of mental suffering in the total volume of sick leave increased from 6.6 to 13.1 percent. „Within the disease type statistics, they form the third or fourth most important disease group. The spread of mental disorders differs greatly according to economic groups and professional activity.“ as it is called in an evaluation of the study.

Unsafe working conditions and stress
The main reasons for this development are increased demands in the workplace. Workers would have to „more flexibility“ show always uncertain working conditions. In many cases, there are no longer continuous employment relationships. In particular, this development affects people in the temporary work industry. „Many agency workers have to work under conditions that can negatively affect health“, as it says in the study. In addition to workers, the unemployed increasingly suffer from mental illness. For example, the study reads: „The risk of becoming mentally ill is higher among the unemployed than among the employed. Mental disorders represent the primary mode of illness among the unemployed.“

Women affected more often
Women are over-frequently affected by gender comparisons. In 2010 alone, 39,000 workers had to go into the disability pension because of a mental illness such as depression or burnout. Ten years earlier, there were still 19,500 victims, which is equivalent to a doubling of cases. „Compared to men, women are more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness. In women, this disease group is usually in 3rd place, in men in 4th place of the causes of disease.“ Among the individual diagnoses were the „depressive episodes“ the main part of long-term illnesses. The duration of the sick leave here averaged 54.1 days.

According to a newspaper report, despite the measurable increase, the federal government sees no need to install new laws against stress at work. First, apply, „to broaden the knowledge and knowledge“. Only then should „be decided whether specific protective measures are taken“, as it was called in the answer of the Federal Government. In contrast, the Bundestag member of the Left, Jutta Krellmann, calls for a quick intervention by the legislature. As measures the politician proposes to curb the temporary work, to regulate the allocation of fixed-term employment contracts and to launch an anti-stress regulation. (Sb)

Also read:
Burnout syndrome becomes a ticking time bomb
Mental illnesses cause high costs
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38 percent of Europeans are mentally ill
Increase in mental illness in adolescents
Absenteeism: Increase in mental illness

Picture: Gerd Altmann