Over half of under 35s have taken sick leave due to mental health issues

Over half of people under 35 have taken sick leave due to mental health issues.

A new study has shown that more and more young people are experiencing mental health related issues, often leading to debilitating consequences in and outside of the workplace. The research, discussed today on RTE Radio 1, also showed that over one third of people (38 percent) have struggled with anxiety and stress in the workplace. Professor of psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, Brendan Kelly, told Miriam O’Callaghan that stress can often times be helpful, but there comes a point where it becomes "disabling." He said:

"When it takes over and it tends to reduce performance rather than increase performance and it’s very difficult to know when that is. "It’s a bit like the story of a frog getting into the cold water which is slowly boiled up and he doesn’t notice that it becomes lethally hot because of the slow increase in his surroundings and this happens a lot, especially in the workplace. Demands increase and stress becomes disabling rather than enabling."

However, despite the prominence of anxiety and mental health related issues in the workplace, many employees are still avoiding telling their bosses that they are suffering. Kelly said that although more and more people are speaking about mental heath, there is still very much a stigma attached to it. "Other research (...) showed that 50 percent of people with stress at work wouldn’t reveal it to their employer, even though about 40 percent of people had taken time off because of it," he said.