Benefits July 30, 2002

I'm OK, Are YOU?

July 30, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new report indicates that a quarter of the American workforce experiences at least one mental or substance abuse disorder each year - and it has a multi-billion dollar price tag for employers.

Reported by

Nevin E. Adams

The report, which drew from National Comorbidity Survey and the National Mortality Followback Survey data, found companies pay more than $17 billion a year in “unproductive” wages to workers with mental disorders.

Production Impact

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However, according to the report in HealthScoutNews, less than a third of that total goes to pay workers who miss workdays because of their substance abuse. The bulk, some $12 billion, is lost because productivity declines due to the illness.

“The rates are extremely high,” says Robin Hertz, study author and a senior director of population studies at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group. “As a nation, we have to be more attentive to these types of problems. There is a mythology out there that if you are at work you are healthy. That is not really true.”

The most common mental disorders among workers aged 18 to 54 are:

alcohol abuse or dependence – 9%
major depression – 8%
social phobia – 7%

Self Assessment

And the costs aren’t just borne by others. The study found that men and women with mental disorders earn on average 22% less than people without mental disorders.

Not that the sources of the problem are always evident. Roughly two-thirds of the 28 million workers who have a mental disorder have never had that condition officially diagnosed – and just 14% of workers with mental disorders have been treated in the prior year, according to the report.

For a list of the symptoms of common mental illnesses, visit the National Institute of Mental Health at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/index.cfm