Johannesburg - Anxiety, depression and bipolar mood disorder. These are just some of the mental disorders that are increasingly being diagnosed and treated among South African professionals as a result of stressful lifestyles.
This is according to Graham Anderson, principal officer of Profmed – the medical scheme catering exclusively to graduate professionals – who said Profmed’s latest member profiles this year revealed a 50 percent increase in those suffering from severe depressive episodes without psychotic symptoms, and a 75 percent increase in those suffering from severe depressive episodes with psychotic symptoms in comparison to last year.
“Depression and bipolar disorders form part of the top 15 diagnosis codes used, and contribute to some of the highest psychiatric benefits used during the 2013 service period,” Anderson said.
He said easier diagnosis of these conditions was also resulting in an increase in the number of people receiving medical treatment for mental diseases such as stress, anxiety and depression.
“We live in a country where we are faced with multiple stressors on a daily basis, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the young people of this country are effectively equipped to deal with this,” Bharti Patel, national director of the SA Federation for Mental Health, said on Wednesday.
By 2020, according to the World Health Organisation, depression will be the second leading cause of disability globally, and by 2030 it is expected to be the largest contributor to the disease burden.
Anderson said many workplaces were aware of the effect mental diseases such as stress and depression had on workplace productivity, and were encouraging employees to get better treatment for conditions that were never previously acknowledged.
“It’s widely acknowledged that improved employee health translates into less absenteeism and increased productivity and, therefore, we are seeing a marked increase not only in patients seeking psychological assistance with regard to stress-related mental diseases, but also in the number of patients on medication for these conditions,” he added.
According to the SA Depression and Anxiety Group, which said it receives about 400 calls a day from people throughout the country looking for help, the fact that people knew more about depression and bipolar was leading to more people identifying symptoms in themselves or their loved ones and seeking help.
Patel decried the fact that mental health care still received a disproportionately small proportion of health budgets.
World Mental Health Day is held annually on October 10, but Anderson said mental illness awareness needed to be an ongoing initiative in order to improve access to treatment. - The Star