Work and Mental Health: An employers' guide
Doreen M. Miller, Maurice Lipsedge and Paul Litchfield
Work-related mental ill health, or
'stress' in the common shorthand, is the major health and safety
issue for most employers in the Western world. In the UK alone more
than 6.5 million working days are lost each year at a cost to
companies of almost £400 million.
The cost to society in human as well
as financial terms is greater still and the latter has been
estimated at some £3.75 billion annually.
Forward-looking organisations have
been seeking not just to control these costs but to establish
working systems that positively enhance mental health. The drivers
for commercial organisations have not, in the main, been
philanthropic but rather the recognition that mental well-being is
a critical factor in peak performance - improvements in
organisational health show up on the bottom line.
Work and Mental
Health draws on the expertise of a wide range of health
professionals with practical experience of mental health in the
workplace. Both clinical problems and organisational issues are
addressed and many practical examples are given of what can be done
in an occupational setting to benefit individuals and the companies
they work for. This is a text written by practitioners not just for
fellow practitioners but also for human resources and management
professionals and a wide range of colleagues in business who are
trying to grapple with this 21st-century 'epidemic'.
Contents
List of tables, boxes and
figures
List of contributors
Preface
Introduction
Acknowledgement
- Management of change: the Glaxo Pharmaceuticals case study
- Legal aspects of mental health in the workplace
- Risk management approach to mental health: the London
Electricity case study
- Mental well-being in the workplace: building the business
case
- Developing a mental health policy: an outline
- Individual and organisational stress
- A team approach to managing mental health at work: the
AstraZeneca case study
- Managing pressure: the Marks & Spencer case study
- Supporting mental well-being through the promotion of a
balanced lifestyle
- Assessing mental health problems in the workplace
- Anxiety, depression, suicide risk, bullying and occupational
health interventions
- Substance misuse/addiction: alcohol
- Substance misuse/addiction: drugs
- Anorexia and bulimia
- The effects of travel on mental well-being: fear of flying and
other psychiatric disorders
- Critical incidents and violence at work
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Schizophrenia and delusional disorders
- Organic states
- Personality disorders in the workplace
- The role of mental health professionals
- The role of the liaison psychiatrist
Index