City workers heading to rehab to deal with recession-related issues

Finance workers are increasingly going to rehab to deal with addiction-related issues brought on by the recession, it has emerged.

Employees facing increased workloads and the threat of redundancy have been seeking help for anxiety, depression, stress and addiction-related issues – but few are committing to in-patient treatment for fear of losing their jobs, according to The Times.

The Priory, the UK’s most famous rehab centre, has witnessed a 20% increase in inquiries over the last six months, while Capio Nightingale Hospital, London’s only independent mental-health hospital, has seen a 200% rise in treatment inquiries between July and September 2008.

A spokesman for The Priory said: “We are getting about five inquiries from the City a week, compared with two a year ago.”

Earlier this week, a survey by Coventry University and the Work Life Balance Centre found stress was rife among workers nationwide, with 62% of employees feeling their workload has increased in the past year, and almost one-third feeling ‘out of control’ in their jobs.

This led to absenteeism rates having almost doubled in the past year, with 58% of the days lost being attributed to stress-related factors.