The cost of depression in the workplace

Depressive disorders in employees and their dependents pose a major occupational health challenge, with implications for productivity, competitiveness, disability program utilization and medical care costs. The following article shows just how big an impact depression has had on the benefit programs of a major Midwestern employer--generating over half of all mental healthcare diagnoses and claims and even more days of disability and 12-month recidivism than chronic physical complaints such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and low back pain.