Work‐related distress in the 1990s ‐ a real increase in ill health?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200800005 |
| Published date | 01 August 2008 |
| Pages | 26-31 |
| Date | 01 August 2008 |
| Author | Stephen Stansfeld,Davina Woodley‐Jones,Farhat Rasul,Jenny Head,Simon Clarke,Colin Mackay |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Over recent years there have been massive changes in working life and workplaces.Across the
1990s there has been a marked increase in repor ts of work-related psychological distress in the UK.
This paper uses the results of the most recent Occupational Health Decennial supplement (Office
for National Statistics (ONS) & Health and Safety Executive (HSE),2007), based on nationally
representative data sources on distress at work, working conditions,sickness absence and psychiatr ic
morbidity to examine the reasons for the apparent increase in work-related psychological distress.
Work-related distress in
the 1990s – a real increase
in ill health?
Stephen A Stansfeld
Professor of Psychiatry
Davina Woodley-Jones
Research Assistant
Farhat Rasul
Research Fellow
Jenny Head
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Psychiatry
Barts and the London
Queen Mary’s School of
Medicine and Dentistry
Queen Mary University
of London,London
Simon Clarke
Senior Statistician
Epidemiology and
Medical Statistics Unit
Health and Safety
Executive,Bootle ,
Merseyside
Colin Mackay
Principal Psychologist
Better Health at Work
Division,Health and
Safety Executive,Bootle,
Merseyside
Correspondence to:
Professor
Stephen A Stansfeld
Professor of Psychiatry
Centre for Psychiatry
Barts and the London
Queen Mary’s School of
Medicine and Dentistry
Queen Mary University
of London
London E1 4NS
s.a.stansfeld@qmul.ac.uk
RESEARCH
26 journal of public mental health
vol 7 • issue 1
Psychological ill health (chiefly anxiety and
depression) is an important cause of
distress and disability in the UK population
at large, affecting about 17% of the general
population (Singleton et al, 2001). Of the
working population 13% have psychological ill
health that may impair performance and lead to
sickness absence (Singleton et al, 2001). In the UK an
estimated 13.5 million working days are lost every
year through the distress, depression and anxiety of
workers (Jones et al, 2003). The health of the
workforce, and particularly their mental health is an
issue of critical national and international importance
(Ustun et al, 2004; Henderson et al, 2005; Black,
2008; Horton, 2008). Greater understanding of the
causes of work-related distress, depression and anxiety
could have implications for prevention, for limitation
of the spread of these disorders and for increased
economic productivity.
What is work-related distress?
Work-related distress covers a wide spectrum of
conditions. At one end the most clear-cut group is
psychiatric disorders, usually common mental
disorders, predominantly depressive and anxiety
disorders, occurring in a working population. These
psychiatric disorders have a multi-factorial aetiology
influenced by genetic factors, life course and current
influences but adverse aspects of work may be partly
responsible for their causation. These conditions
range from clearly distinguishable psychiatric
disorders associated with obvious impairment of
functioning to, on the other hand, milder disorders
typified by symptoms such as depressed mood or
sleep disturbance or anxiety where, nevertheless,
people may still be able to function normally. In
these milder conditions it is usual that symptoms
may be transient, or recurrent but not continuously
present. At this end of the spectrum work-related
stress may include perceptions of excessive workload
and job strain but not psychopathology. It is also
confusing in that the term ‘stress’ is often used
interchangeably as the external stimulus or ‘stressor’
as well as the ‘strain’ or response. In this paper we
refer to ‘distress’ as the response category to an
external ‘stress’.
Has work-related distress increased?
The public profile of work-related distress has
increased dramatically across the last decade as
shown in figure 1 (overleaf) which demonstrates the
increase in the number of UK national newspaper
articles on work stress in the last decade, accessed
from the Lexus Nexus database. Work-related stress
has become an issue of public discussion and
controversy fuelled by high-profile compensation
cases (eg. Walker vs Northumberland County
Council, 2005).
This article summarises work carried out
compiling the Decennial Supplement for work and
© Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
Keywords
work
psychological distress
ill health
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