03. 03. 09. - 16:00

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03. 03. 09. - 16:00

Recession raising stress levels at work

The economic and financial crisis is causing more stress in the workplace, with more cases of burn-out and mobbing and a rising danger of suicide.

The Austrian Federal Psychotherapy Association (ÖBVP) warned today (Tues) workers were feeling more stress as the threat of job losses and business closures increased.

ÖBVP President Eva Mückstein said: "If problems are increasing and workers have the feeling they have lost their personal freedom to make decisions, psychic problems and burn-out can occur. If people can’t find solutions, they feel powerless."

Mückstein added 93,000 Austrians, or 2.2 per cent of employed men and 2.5 per cent of employed women, had complained their co-workers had been violent or engaged in mobbing them in 2007 and another 0.8 per cent of Austrians had suffered anxiety attacks or depression.

The ÖBVP president cited an EU study concluding burn-out affected four-to-seven per cent of EU workers on average and threatened another 16 per cent annually. The study claimed burn-out cost 20 billion Euros annually.

Mückstein noted psychic problems were the second most-important reason for invalidity pensions for men and the most important for women.

ÖBVP has called for all insured workers to have the right to obtain psycho-therapy.

Austrian Times

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