A Report on Occupational Mental Disorders

Matthias Angermeyer^*
*Correspondence: Matthias Angermeyer, Center for Public Mental Health, Gösing am Wagram, Austria, Email:

Brief Report

Depression, anxiety, somatoform and adjustment disorders are all common mental illnesses that affect people all over the world. According to a rigorous review of 188 nations between 1990 and 2013, depression is the second most common cause of years spent disabled. According to a poll conducted in Western European nations, North America and Australia in 2012, 15–20 percent of the working population suffers from a mental condition at any given moment.

Between 2001 and 2015, the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey collected data on the 12-month prevalence of major depressive disorder and the proportion of those who received treatment. The findings of 21 nations with high, upper-middle and lower-middle incomes were published in 2017. They demonstrate that, comparable to other high-income nations, barely 20% of persons suffering from mental illnesses in Germany seek medical help. Untreated common mental diseases can resolve spontaneously in as little as a year. This calls into doubt the need for early intervention, which may be a sensible strategy for certain people. However, afflicted individuals frequently suffer social consequences, such as a worsening of the social environment among coworkers or with supervisors as a result of poor work performance.

Data from a thorough research conducted in Germany between 2009 and 2012 found a six- to seven-year median delay between the onset of the illness and evidence-based treatment among those who did not seek treatment within the first year. Fear of stigmatisation, long wait times for outpatient psychotherapy, geographical variances in availability, or issues with referrals for psychotherapy treatment are all possible factors. Non-detection of the mental condition or lack of understanding of other health-care choices are also possible obstacles.

Briner and Fingret have gathered contributions from notable psychologists working in the subject of occupational mental health in this issue of Occupational Medicine. Each of them has analysed published literature to determine the present state of knowledge and has recommended more study to elucidate the link between job and mental health. Prefacing these studies with a brief, possibly unique history of occupational mental health, noting advancements in connection to occupational medicine, felt fitting. The Effects of Arts, Trades and Professions on Health and Longevity, a landmark text authored by Charles Turner Thackrah in 1831 documenting the harmful physical effects of labour, is where occupational medicine began in the United Kingdom.

The earliest interest in the psychological impacts of work emerged from the work of the Health of Munition Workers Committee, which found that exhausted workers who worked increasingly long hours had worse performance. The Industrial Fatigue Board was established in 1918 as a result of these results. This committee was tasked with investigating the link between work hours and practises and the development of weariness, efficiency and worker health. Doctors began working in the industrial context at this time to examine worker's compensation status. They were despised by the employees, who perceived them as a managerial tool. The Association of Industrial Medical Officers was created in 1935 in response to the need for standards and best practises among doctors working in the industrial context. By 1967, it was evident that the nature of the workplace had changed and the Association changed its name to the Society of Occupational Medicine. This shift paralleled the shift in focus of the medical officers' job, which had previously focused on ailments caused by industrial processes but now encompassed all forms of labour. Further shifts in focus have been made in response to rising service sector employment and a shrinking manufacturing base. Changes in the nature of labour, such as more female employment, new technology and the entrepreneurial culture, appear to have resulted in a massive growth.

Despite the fact that the problem began in childhood, most individuals are not diagnosed until they are between the ages of 20 and 50. Many people have had many erroneous diagnoses of mental or physical problems, or both, over the course of seven years or more. Failure to diagnose is a sign of the many elements that contribute to this being a hidden condition. The creation of trust and a therapeutic relationship between the patient and the therapist is where diagnosis and management begin.

The shifting between different identities is a symptom of multiple personality disorder. One or more voices in one's brain may feel as if they are attempting to take control. These identities frequently have distinct names, traits, demeanours and voices. People with DID will have trouble remembering everyday occurrences, personal information and traumatic experiences. Women are more likely to be diagnosed because they appear with acute dissociation symptoms more frequently. Men, rather than amnesia or fugue states, are more prone to ignore symptoms and trauma histories and to engage in more aggressive conduct. This might result in a higher number of erroneous negative diagnoses.

While there is no known aetiology for DID, the most widely accepted psychiatric explanation is that it develops as a result of significant childhood trauma. It's considered that one way some people cope with being severely traumatised as a kid is to block out altered states of consciousness, or to disassociate from those memories. When that reaction becomes too strong, DID may develop. Having a family member with DID, like having a family member with any other mental disease, is a risk factor in the sense that it suggests a possible sensitivity to acquiring the disorder, but it does not imply that the disorder is hereditary. There are no treatment recommendations for DID. Treatments are frequently prescribed on a case-by-case basis by doctors. There is no particular medicine for DID. Treatment options can include psychotherapy as well as any medications needed to aid with symptoms if they occur alongside DID.