[The practice of the mental health in the general hospital]

On December 2, 2011 a new reform bill concerning the Labor Safety and Hygiene law was presented to parliament. The bill states that all companies and businesses regardless of size are obliged to have all employees take a stress test once a year in addition to the regular health check. In September 2010 the employees fo Toho University Sakura Hospital were given this new stress. The test included categories for occupation and the various departments in the hospital. There were 40 employees found to test high for stress and to have depressive tendencies. We interviewed about 16 of these employees. One employee started to receive medicine to help reduce the stress and 4 employees received counseling only. The other 11 employees did not need to receive counseling or medicine. From April 2005 to September 2011, we conducted another study. The subjects this time were 92 employees of the hospital who have received treatment at other facilities for mental problems from occupational physicians. We categorized the subjects by sex, age occupation, length of time employed at the hospital, department and period of time from the onset of symptoms to the time they sought treatment. In this paper I will present my findings and suggestions for improving mental health care for employees of general hospital throughout Japan.