FOR many people, stress is a normal part of working life. But in the current economic climate, work-related anxiety has become so intense many employees simply can’t cope.
Stress is now the number one cause of long-term sickness absence.
A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and healthcare company Simplyhealth found that stress, for the first time, has moved ahead of problems such as repetitive strain injury or acute medical conditions such as cancer to become the top reason for taking sick leave of four weeks or longer.
The study also found a link between job security and mental-health issues, with employers planning redundancies significantly more likely to report problems among staff.
Recently, an inquest heard that council officer David White, 51, killed himself because of pressures at work. The hearing was told the father-of-two was worried about a 30% cut to his department’s budget.
The CIPD report found public-sector respondents identified organisational change and restructuring as a result of cuts as the number one cause of stress at work, with 50% reporting an increase in stress-related absence.
According to the CIPD, an average public-sector employee has 9.1 days a year off sick, compared with 7.1 days for workers in the private sector and 5.7 days in the manufacturing industry.
Dr Steve Mowle, vice-chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, says that, if the cause of that sick leave is stress, there may be any number of physical manifestations.
These include headaches, back and neck pain (linked to increased tension in the body) chest pain, panic attacks and eye strain. Sleep and concentration may also be affected.
Dr Mowle said: “People may have no physical signs of stress but simply feel overwhelmed by the level of stress at work.”
The amount of stress each person can cope with is variable, and GPs will try to measure symptoms against the effect they are having on the patient’s life.
The more serious effects of stress can include cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes, linked to high blood pressure.
When a person is stressed, steroid hormones are released in the body, and they can raise blood pressure.
Dr Mowle says stress can also lead to behaviour patterns that encourage and exacerbate health problems.
A study of more than 10,000 civil servants in 2008 looked at the biological and behavioural factors that link work stress with coronary heart disease. It reported that those under 50 who said their work was stressful were 68% more likely to develop heart disease than the stress-free.
But while lead researcher Tarani Chandola and colleagues at University College, London found that the stressed showed signs of important biochemical changes, they also had less time to exercise and eat well.
“It’s not just the stress,” said Dr Mowle. “It’s the fact that if you’ve got a stressful job you might drink or smoke more, eat less healthily and exercise less”.
If a person goes to their GP suffering from stress, the doctor will want to know what the impact is on the patient’s life and work before signing them off.
They may be referred to another practitioner for cognitive behavioural therapy, counselling, or perhaps to an occupational health specialist.
If the stress has caused depression, anti-depressant drugs may be prescribed.
“GPs are undoubtedly seeing lots of employees in various states of distress linked to uncertainty surrounding their job, or because of the threat of redundancy,” said Dr Mowle.
“There are a lot of unhappy people out there, whose lives have been turned upside down by what’s happening at work.
“If stress is having a persistently negative effect on your health, either mental or physical, go and see your GP.
“The GP is the right person to help navigate you out of the situation and find strategies for dealing with it.”
But consultant psychiatrist Dr Cosmo Hallstrom, a spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says it is important for sufferers to try to recognise for themselves what the root of the problem is.
“Look at what’s going on – step back a bit emotionally and try to work out what’s happening.
“Sometimes situations are stressful and need to be adjusted, other times it may be your reaction to it, but just persisting with it indefinitely isn’t good.”
He added: “The danger of seeing a doctor is that they medicalise everything, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you come out with a medical solution. That may or may not be the right thing.”
Medication may help in certain situations, but Dr Hallstrom does not believe people should take pills unless they have developed an illness, such as depression.
“It depends what you think the medication can achieve. Long-term medication for an outside problem is probably not a good idea.”
It’s also not a good idea to take a long time off work because of stress, he says. “Taking time off work to get away from a stressful situation is pretty fatal, really.
“By all means take a few days off, but by the time you’ve taken a few weeks or months off, the odds are you’re never going to go back.”
Dr Hallstrom says working is healthy for most people, and if you take time off and develop an adversarial relationship with your employer this can become self-destructive. He suggests speaking to your employer, reducing your workload or taking a holiday, but insists: “It’s dangerous to go off sick.”
Some people are vulnerable to stress while others are very resilient. It also depends on how well prepared people are. “One man’s stress is another man’s heaven,” said Dr Hallstrom.
Problems are usually caused by a combination of factors – partly the home environment and partly work. A stable home environment probably means you can tolerate more at work.
Stressed-out people might drink more, or exhibit unusual behaviour – even flirting when they wouldn’t normally dream of it.
But Dr Hallstrom adds: “Recognise the situation for what it is. Realise you’re not alone and that there are ways out of it.
“Simply taking time off sick and not communicating with your employers may not be a good thing to do – you have to think where it’s leading.”