Research by Unison’s social care forum has found more than a third of council social workers in south east England are taking anti-depressants or other medication - read the full story on Community Care's website.
I don't know if this is due to stress or other problems in people's lives...social work is clearly one of the most emotionally demanding jobs in the public sector and this must take its toll on people's health, both mentally and physically...?
ant-depressants are overused but thats another issue.
anti-depressants can help with anxiety (stress as some like to call it) but are more for a mood disorder.
i read somewhere recently that the figures are pretty much similar across the board for a/d's being used by public sector workers but more prevalent in the medicine and the police (the most demanding of public sector jobs). the point of the article was all public sector workers such as s/w,teaching etc all have different but equally trying circumstances and conditions.
I agree with Titchmagoo.
I'm not in a position to comment on whether the figures used by UNISON may have some other causes as well as work related pressures but it is surely the case that given the widely documented immense work pressures on social workers, there should be little surprise at the general point UNISON's figures are presumably seeking to show.
Employers have a duty of care to their staff and these figures suggest, yet again, that it is not being met. Moreover when employers dont meet their duty of care to their staff it makes it that much more difficult for staff to meet their duty of care to service users.
Roger Kline (Aspect, the education and social services union)
Are people who are on anti depressants really best equipped to deal with the 'emotionally demanding' caseloads they have to handle as opposed to the 'emotionally demanding jobs' they hold? Surely, their minds and skills cannot be focussed on clients' needs when they themselves are struggling with their own emotions. Social workers tend to get a bad press as it is without offering them an additional 'out' of blaming perhaps a wrong or inappropriate diagnosis on their own drug-dependent inability to cope with their own challenges.
outsidechance: Are people who are on anti depressants really best equipped to deal with the 'emotionally demanding' caseloads they have to handle as opposed to the 'emotionally demanding jobs' they hold? Surely, their minds and skills cannot be focussed on clients' needs when they themselves are struggling with their own emotions. Social workers tend to get a bad press as it is without offering them an additional 'out' of blaming perhaps a wrong or inappropriate diagnosis on their own drug-dependent inability to cope with their own challenges.
thing is, the anti-depressants are not required much of the time. a/d's are prescribed all to often and in cases where there is nor great evidence of a clinical depression.
Hi!
I think there's a danger of being sidetracked into whether a/ds are a good thing or not and whether drs are prescribing sensibly. In my view this statistic reveals many, many SWs feel under stress, exhausted, unsupported and demoralised. A/ds are not of course the answer - the answer is for senior managers and Councillors in local authorities to understand the important job their SWs do and ensure they receive sufficient support and supervison with reasonable workloads. Government and media understanding and support would help too. I'm reading on other threads of terrible overload of work, child protection referrrals soaring, heavy reliance on temporary staff and of SW graduates being unable to find jobs - something wrong here surely?
Any job with those conditions would see people being stressed and depressed, let alone one as emotionally demanding and at times as dangerous and traumatic as social work.
When I was on a/ds it was because of hugely unrealistic workload, mainly around crisis because there was no strategy, pressure from organisations who knew nothing about SW and had completely unrealistic expectations, poor supervision (not from a SW), lack of support and bullying from senior managers. This was real - it wasn't that I wasn't up to the job or there were all sorts of things going on at home - my life outside work was very stable. What helped? 10 weeks off work (never had more than 2 days a year before), some tablets, and counselling. I went back to prove I could and then, along with half my team, left to work elsewhere.
Also women are much more likely to be prescribed anti-depressants than men and you can't argue with the statistics that a large proportion of social workers are women and therefore more likely to be offered medication.
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
My main point about the use of a/ds whilst handling a challenging caseload which appears to be the norm today is around how effective anyone would expect a s/w to be if s/he was taking anti depressants themselves. Regardless of why or for how long they are prescribed, I cannot see how a s/w would be capable of handling a punishing client list, feeling demoralised thru poor peer and management support, etc. I meant no disrespect to any s/w who is taking a/ds for any reason. For example, a check out assistant in a supermarket might be taking a/ds for a variety of reasons, eg relationship problems, financial trouble, domestic situation, etc but s/he is not in a position where their day-to-day problems night impinge on the actions of others. For example, a s/w who was on a/ds because of relationship problems might not be in the best of positions to advise a client who was going through something similar in their own lives. Now I expect you will all rush to tell me that s/ws are professionals and that this would not happen but I would ask you to be realistic. In times when we have all been under pressure for any reason, eg bereavement, divorce, illness, etc, can we honestly say that we were in the best position to advise even friends who might have been encountering similar difficulties?
outsidechance: My main point about the use of a/ds whilst handling a challenging caseload which appears to be the norm today is around how effective anyone would expect a s/w to be if s/he was taking anti depressants themselves. Regardless of why or for how long they are prescribed, I cannot see how a s/w would be capable of handling a punishing client list, feeling demoralised thru poor peer and management support, etc. I meant no disrespect to any s/w who is taking a/ds for any reason. For example, a check out assistant in a supermarket might be taking a/ds for a variety of reasons, eg relationship problems, financial trouble, domestic situation, etc but s/he is not in a position where their day-to-day problems night impinge on the actions of others. For example, a s/w who was on a/ds because of relationship problems might not be in the best of positions to advise a client who was going through something similar in their own lives. Now I expect you will all rush to tell me that s/ws are professionals and that this would not happen but I would ask you to be realistic. In times when we have all been under pressure for any reason, eg bereavement, divorce, illness, etc, can we honestly say that we were in the best position to advise even friends who might have been encountering similar difficulties?
Doesn't that give you a better insight if you've had similar experiences yourself, than just spouting what you've learnt from a textbook?
Absolutely - but ONLY when you've gone through that experience, reflected on it, learned from it and recovered from it - NOT WHILST you're going through it. Maybe I'm not explaining myself too well but am I the only one who thinks that trying to maintain a challenging caseload WHILST trying to cope with personal depression for whatever reason WHILST failing to gain or be given support from Line Managers and colleagues MIGHT just be a recipe for disaster, not only for yourself but MORE IMPORTANTLY for the person you are trying to help in the midst of this trauma. Again, I mean no disrespect to anyone, bearing in mind that we are dealing with a wholly hypothetical situation but, ask yourself, with any or all of the foregoing factors at play, what would be the likely outcome of a Risk Assessment, not on the client but on the s/w in such a position. I doubt if a bus or tube driver would be able to cope in such situations let alone someone who was actively trying to deal with a caseload of demanding and challenging clients.
a/d's are not going to help those with poor coping skills at work.
those who are not coping with and feeliing anxious about workload, pressure, bosses etc. should llok for advice from the workers who cope with the same job perfectly well.
I agree with your view but you use the word 'should' rather than 'must'. Realistically, if someone is not coping, either wiht their workload or their personal situation, how many of them would come forward and admit this. Fear of job loss at worst or 'garden leave' at best, loss of income, a negative 'reference' that might follow them to the next job, etc. The s/w in question is much more likely to go for a quick fix, possibly via a/ds, and try to coast through the problem. I keep coming back to my original point, almost with boring regularity. How can anyone - forget the odd exceptions - who is coping with personal problems, family matters, divorce, bereavement, etc and who turns to a/ds to get them through this problem, be in the best position to manage what posters themselves have called punishing caseloads and poor management support? I am not pointing - or even wagging - a finger ant anyone but in such circumstances, I can see The Sun headlines in a few months. 'Child dies - Social Worker says 's/he couldn't cope' Why wait until that happens?
I think some of the responses to Daniel Lombard's original question are missing the point. Surely the main point UNISON was trying to make with their survey was that work pressures are a key (or the key) factor here.
If that is the case - and I suspect it is - then the real problem is whether employers are acting on their duty of care to their staff and to those to whom they provide services. There shouldn't be work environments that drive significant numbers of people off sick or onto anti-depressants - whether through worklods, long hours, bullying or half baked IT systems.
It is bad for staff and bad for those they work with and employers should be held to account where there is a clear pattern of work related stress causing sickness or medicinal use.
That makes it a collective issue which unions can (or should) address.
Start by collecting the data by occupation which the employer has and should provide to any safety rep
cb: Also women are much more likely to be prescribed anti-depressants than men and you can't argue with the statistics that a large proportion of social workers are women and therefore more likely to be offered medication.
Are you sure that is an accurate statement, and why does that happen?
We can argue with the statistics. Can you give a link to these stats please?
If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
I'm not sure that we want to take the Daily Mail - or the Daily Fail - or the Hate Mail - stance on issues like this. I simply felt that anyone who was going through personal trauma in their lives was probably not best equipped AT THAT TIME to be counselling others who may have had more pressing problems than the s/w in question. If everyone 'got out of the kitchen' because they couldn't 'stand the heat', I think we'd have 10 million unemployed, let alone 2.5 million as at present. We all 'can't cope' from time to time and by degree hut there is usually and eventually a way out. This isn't a catch all position by far. My point was more along the lines of 'get out of the kitchen, go and have a lay down on the sofa until you're in better nick than you are now then, when you're ready, get back in the kitchen'. The usual stiff upper lip approach coupled with increasing pressure from line managers could, I felt, lead to more disastrous situations along the lines of those we have seen in the press and media in recent months and years. We almost set ourselves up for this on a daily basis. The Daily Fail would then have a field day with the s/w in question - poor line management, punishing caseload, should this person have been doing this job, calling for the line manager's head, catalogue of time off through depression, etc. THAT was, and remains, my original point!
PurplePeopleEater: If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
If we changed the question to read: "Social Workers addicted to alcohol --- Why?"
What different answers would you give?
Again, a blanket statement - 'SOME social workers addicted to alcohol' is probably the case as would be SOME tube drivers, bus drivers, pilots, doctors, surgeons, nurses, etc. It would be down to the appropriateness of 'feeding' their addiction in relation to the job. If they were driving a tube or a bus with a can in their hand or performing operations with a scalpel in one hand and a G+T in the other, THAT would clearly cause concern. A drink - or indeed a number of drinks - after work or at home is clearly more acceptable than drinking at work. Again, with boring regularity, I repeat my original point - should s/ws be dealing with punishing caseloads - not my words! - whilst they are, in most cases, dealing with complex issues of mind and body when they are not at their 100% best?
Smokey: If we changed the question to read: "Social Workers addicted to alcohol --- Why?" What different answers would you give?
"It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show what we truly are" "Worry does not equal control"
I think that whether a social worker on anti-depressants can cope with their job is very much an individual thing. I have been treated for depression for years, and recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but have still continued with my course and held the same caseload that other students have. I'm not sure how I would have found it if my practice teacher and the team manager wasn't aware of my situation though, because I was conscious that at times I was quieter than usual, for example, which may have been commented on if they hadn't known the reason.
As long as somebody is willing to continue with their job and their depression isn't having an affect on their work, I think any appropriate support should be discussed/put into place, and the person should be allowed to continue with their job. There are obviously different levels of depression though - many people who take anti-depressants probably shouldn't be to be honest, and would benefit more from other avenues of support.
~ The race goes not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running ~
hell our team would fall apart without them
I wanted sympathy as my blood preassure was 155 over 100 turns out I was in the best shape in the building (time to get out)
forgive me for being rather shocked by that statement as noone on my team 'copes with the same job perfectly well'
if that's the case on your team then let me know where you are, i'll be there like a shot!
I think G.P.s are too eager to dish out anti-depressants without spending more time with the patient, to get to the root cause of the depression.
How many people are addicted to prescription drugs?
Now THAT'S worrying! From what you say, your team should all be on pills to bring down their high blood pressure which is responsible for 80% of all strokes. Depression won't necessarily lose you your job - a stroke, by degree, almost certainly will. My doctor always tells me that if he can get me through the 'dangerous decade' - 55 to 65 for men - then it'll be old age or a bus that finishes me off. At 61, so far, so good!
Smokey: I think G.P.s are too eager to dish out anti-depressants without spending more time with the patient, to get to the root cause of the depression. How many people are addicted to prescription drugs?
I couldn't agree more. A/ds have gradually become the Elastoplast for the mind. 'Take these three times a day and come back and see me in a year!' It is vital that doctors get to the cause of the depression otherwise the patient believes that the pill in question will do the job. Then the dependency - and the downward spiral - begins. I have a doctor in a million. You go to him and you're there for 30 minutes at least and that's just for a repeat prescription! I've joked that his surgery should have a Pret a Manger franchise but he's extremely thorough. Too many doctors start writing the prescription as you walk through the door. I work with juvenile offenders and it's amazing the results you can achieve with them when you get to the root cause of WHY they're offending rather than just 'wagging the judicial finger' at them. That approach usually results in them 'wagging the middle finger' back at you!
Tomorrow2: Smokey: If we changed the question to read: "Social Workers addicted to alcohol --- Why?" What different answers would you give? I don't think you can compare a/ds and alcohol in a situation like this. As long as the a/ds are putting the sw in question into the 'coping range' as it were then I see no problem, along with making sure that they are able to carry out their job without their usage of a/ds affecting how they work with other people taking a/ds.
It would be a brave Line Manager who would decide where the 'coping range' started and ended. That places the Line Manager in the role of amateur psychoanalyst which probably wasn't in the Job Description. i can see industrial tribunal lawyers rubbing their hands at that statement.
Depression is a clinical condition, not a catch all term for ‘stress’ and should be used in its medical sense if we are to have a useful discussion. If a whole team are on anti-depressants either the prescribing doctors are mis-using these or you have an a-typical statistic worthy of serious research. Any person suffering from depression should be given the same consideration and adjustments as any other employee who is unwell or indeed those with caring responsibilities. I fear though that given the level of prejudice in social work against people with a mental illness, this will not happen any time soon.