The Little Blue Book

And so, undiagnosed, and commonly misunderstood, many who suffer depression will find themselves battling alone – unable to sleep, unable to think, each hour a battle with sadness, anxiousness, or growing feelings of isolation and worthlessness. For some, drinking heavily, misusing substances or gambling heavily becomes a distraction from the disabling pain inside the head. And like all illnesses and disorders, there is a scale of severity. Some can be so profoundly ill that they are entirely disabled. Others may sit somewhere else along that scale – can continue to function, continue to present to work, but there will be a creeping deterioration in work performance, marked by distraction, forgetfulness and a reduced ability to wholly engage with their role and responsibilities. Even if harbouring thoughts of suicide or self-harm, the sufferer may not be aware that the feelings they carry are symptoms of mental illness – one that, if not addressed and treated, can pose a life- threatening risk. Despite the dangers, while up to 45% of Australians will suffer one or more periods of mental illness in our lifetimes, only one-in-three sufferers will get professional treatment. 2 69 Just under 7% of employees in any organisation (and 8.9% of the wider Australian community) will develop clinically significant depressive symptoms in any one year. On average, every full-time employee with untreated depression costs an organisation $9,665 per year. Assessing the financial return on investment of good management strategies and the WORC Project’, Hilton, M., research paper, University of Queensland (2013) www.qcmhr.uq.edu.au. 69 ADA Australia PostScript Section 2 Section 1 Section 3