Absenteeism due to depression is at an all-time high during the Corona crisis

27.08.2020 16:51

In the first few months of the corona pandemic, the psychological stress on many people reached a peak. Never before have employees between the Rhine and Ruhr been on sick leave for as long due to depressive disorders as in the first half of 2020. This was determined by the Institute for Workplace Health Promotion (BGF) of the AOK Rhineland/Hamburg, which collects data from AOK insured people from large parts of North Rhine-Westphalia. Westphalia evaluated.

“The restrictions and uncertainties during the pandemic pose a particular challenge, especially for mentally unstable people,” says Rolf Buchwitz, deputy chairman of the board of AOK Rheinland/Hamburg.

The number of days missed due to mental health problems has been increasing for years. Between 2004 and 2019, it more than doubled in the Rhine and Ruhr, as the BGF Institute found. Now the corona pandemic seems to be accelerating this trend. Compared to the first half of 2019, there were around nine percent more days lost due to depression and other psychological impairments in the first half of 2020. This means: If the values were transferred to all those insured at AOK Rheinland/Hamburg all year round, each insured person would have been on sick leave for mental health problems for around 3.8 days between January and June 2019, but 0.3 days longer between January and June 2020, namely around 4.1 days.

Especially at the beginning of the corona pandemic, exit restrictions, contact bans and the closure of numerous facilities reduced social contacts to a minimum for many weeks. Daily routines such as going to work or taking breaks with colleagues suddenly disappeared. “In addition, there were sometimes very stressful challenges such as a lack of child care, caring for relatives in need of help and fears about the job. Especially for people with a tendency to depression, such changes in life can have an additional negative impact on their mental state,” says Rolf Buchwitz.

Isolation and quarantine can have a negative impact on health

The German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN) also warns. Personal contact, facial expressions, gestures and touch are often crucial for well-being and health. Isolation and quarantine measures, on the other hand, had a negative impact on health, especially mental health. In healthy people as well as people with a history of mental illness, they could lead to depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, stress and anger. According to the DGPPN, social isolation poses a great burden, especially for people with mental illnesses.

Depression is one of the most common forms of mental disorders worldwide and is considered the main cause of suicide and early retirement. Experts assume that around 5.3 million people across Germany suffer from them. After back pain or other skeletal and muscle diseases, psychological problems in general cause the most days missed from work.

The AOK Rheinland/Hamburg and the BGF Institute advise employers on how to deal with mentally endangered employees. The offering ranges from seminars to raise awareness among managers – also online – to health days. The health insurance company also supports an online self-test on the topic of depression at moodgym.de, gives tips on prevention and advises on finding doctors and psychotherapists. The online coaching program Family Coach Depression helps relatives of mentally ill people cope with often difficult everyday life (https://depression.aok.de/).