Impact of Psychological Disorders on Business

Only cancer and stroke keep more Americans from work than do mental disorders.

In 1990, Major Depression alone cost $23 billion in lost work days (about $35 million in the greater Quad Cities area). Minor depression may account for 51%. More disability days than major depression.

CEO’s have said their top five health concerns are hypertension, smoking, obesity, depression, and substance abuse. All of these conditions have a psychological component.

Forth-three percent of CEO’s estimate 1 to 10% of lost productivity is due to alcohol misuse.

Sixty percent of employee absences are due to psychological problems.

In 1980, alcoholism alone cost America 500 million lost workdays (about 769,000 lost work days in the Quad Cities area).

Workers who test positive for drug use are 2 ½ times more likely to miss work than non-abusing workers.

80 to 90% of industrial accidents are related to personal problems and employees’ inability to handle stress.

1989 payments for stress-related disability totaled $380 million in California alone (about $6.4 million for the greater Quad Cities area).

Depressed workers are four times more likely to take disability days than non-depressed workers and three times more likely to miss work

Substance abusers are four to six times more likely to have an accident at work and five times more likely to file a claim.