Research
Workplace stress, the scourge of British business, currently costing the UK economy up to £12bn a year in lost work days, is a myth, according to an eminent psychiatrist.
Speaking at the Recent Advances in Medicine Relating to Risk Assessment in Insurance conference, Professor Simon Wessely, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, noted that: "The number of people claiming incapacity benefit for musculoskeletal complaints has been on the decrease since the mid-1990s. At the same time however, the number claiming for mental health complaints has been rising."
"Self-reporting of fatigue has doubled even though the diseases that can cause fatigue are declining," claimed Wessely. "Objectively measured psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive compulsive, panic and depressive disorders, have not increased, so it is almost certain that what we are witnessing is a rise in self-reporting. It seems highly likely that the reasons for this rise are societal and not related to a true increase in stress and mental illness," he added.
Wessely also questioned the validity of the notion of workplace stress. "Psychiatric disorders are always multi-factoral. While work may be a factor, it is one of many, including marriage, children, social support and money," he said.
