Mental health time-off ‘stigma’

PEOPLE WITH mental health problems feel stigmatised in asking their employers for time off work to attend therapy appointments, according to medical professionals.

Yet patients would happily ask their boss for the time off if they were suffering a physical ailment such as a broken leg or arm, they said.

Evidence suggests more people are suffering poor mental health, although some of the rise is due to people being more willing to say they have a problem. Economic uncertainty, social media, the influence of the media and rising expectations of life have all been suggested as possible causes.

There is also a debate around whether doctors prescribe antidepressant medication too quickly and should look for alternatives.

During an event at the Cheltenham Science Festival, a panel of experts discussed the stigma surrounding anti-depressants and insisted they work.

Professor Ann John, professor of public mental health at Swansea University, said medication should be used in combination with other treatments such as therapy.

“One of the problems with these sort of psychological therapies or talking therapies which doesn’t often get talked about is, possibly because of the stigma, lots of people find it difficult to make regular in-the-day appointments to attend,” she said.

“Some of the people I work with on projects are being asked to attend weekly regular appointments; they are in the sorts of jobs where they are not able to do that in the day without losing their pay.”

GP Clare Gerada agreed many of her patients felt ashamed of taking antidepressants. “I think for anyone to say I need a regular appointment on a Monday afternoon to attend therapy is very difficult to admit to an employer,” she said.

Dr Gerada, a former chairman of the Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said that mental health services were the poor relation for funding.