Trends

Moderated by Dr. Catherine Classen of the Women’s College Hospital, panellists Dr. Leslie Buckley (University Health Network), Dr. Mona Gupta (Women’s College Hospital), Dr. Diane Meschino (Women’s College Hospital) and Dr. Claire Pain (Mount Sinai Hospital) provided diverse viewpoints on women and mental health in the workplace.

The panellists agreed that the most important aspect of accommodation is flexibility. However, offering true flexibility may mean rethinking how we understand accommodation, said Gupta.

“We are hindered by thinking of the concept of accommodation as a response to that person’s condition or that person’s disease, rather than thinking about accommodation as the way we should optimally structure work to meet all of our diverse needs,” she said, adding that we all need some sort of accommodation—whether due to physical needs, child care responsibilities or other aspects of our daily lives.

Mental health takes a back seat to physical illness in tough times

Rising drug costs create barriers to treatment

Canadian workers who are currently paying for treatment of physical illnesses are more likely to ignore symptoms of depression, which can result in rising costs for employers, according to a study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

CAMH’s analysis of disability data from three large Canadian firms representing approximately 63,000 employees found that a worker on depression-related short-term disability is less likely to fill a prescription for antidepressant medication if he or she is already paying high out-of-pocket costs for medications to treat physical disorders such as heart disease or asthma.

Such a delay in seeking antidepressant medication could cost an additional $2,924 on average—based on the average hourly wage of $21.66—per worker on depression-related short-term disability.

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© Copyright 2009 Rogers Publishing Ltd. This article first appeared in the June/July 2009 edition of WORKING WELL magazine.