Essential to Understand the Relationship Between Mental Illness and Work

Abstract

In laying out the relationship between the prevalence of mental illness and labour force and employment status, Dewa et al. provide the necessary context for this meeting. Think of it: on the order of 25% of all diseases in Canada are attributable to mental illness (Murray and Lopez 1997). Even more troubling, unlike debilitating physical illness mental illness is often at least as common among those in the prime of their working lives as in the elderly. Dewa et al. then illustrate very nicely an implication we can all well understandthat mental illness imposes costs far beyond medical expenses. It is of utmost value that they point out that those costs 26

An International Perspective on Worker Mental Health Problems: Who Bears the Burden and How are Costs Addressed?

“…During recessions, for example, when available workers outnumber available jobs, such costs may be much reduced. 72 The symptoms associated with mental disorders may also expose coworkers and managers to undesirable work situations. This, in turn, may make colleagues more vulnerable to increased stress and increase their risk of experiencing a mental illness.…”