Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-17T15:41:54.875Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Attitudes of employers to the mentally ill

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Cressida Manning*
Affiliation:
The Royal London Medical School
Peter D. White
Affiliation:
St Barthlomew's Hospital, Medical College, London EC1A 7BE
*
Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Patients often ask psychiatrists for advice on how to answer questions about their health, when seeking employment. They fear not being employed if they declare that they have suffered from a mental illness. The attitudes of personnel directors of 200 randomly chosen public limited companies were measured. This confirmed significant reluctance, stigma and ignorance about employing and believing the mentally ill. Employers decided whether to employ someone by considering the fob description, the standard of previous work, whether the applicant was receiving treatment, previous time off sick, and the particular illness suffered. Those with depression were more likely to be employed than those with schizophrenia or alcoholism. The largest companies were significantly more likely to employ patients and were less likely to seek dismissal than the smallest. Employers would welcome more information about mental ill health. Potential employees should approach large firms and seek treatment.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995

References

Bacani-Oropilla, T., Lippmann, S., Tully, E., et al (1991) Patients with mental disorders who work. Southern Medical Journal, 84, 323327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford's Directory of City Connections (1992) London: Benn Business Information Services.Google Scholar
Croner (1988) Croner's Employment Law. London: Croner Publications.Google Scholar
Dightman, C. R. & Marks, J. B. (1968) Employer attitudes toward the employment of the ex-psychiatric patient. Mental Hygiene, 52, 562569.Google Scholar
Herman, N. J. & Smith, C. M. (1989) Mental hospital depopulation in Canada: patient perspectives. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 386391.Google Scholar
Hubschmid, T. & Schaub, M. (1988) Long-term psychiatric patients in the workplace. A survey of employers. Rehabilitation–Stuttgart, 27, 145148.Google Scholar
Lahelma, E. (1992) Unemployment and mental well-being: elaboration of the relationship. International Journal of Health Services, 22, 261274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lohr-Wiegmann, U. (1988) Occupational rehabilitation of psychiatrically handicapped patients–concomitant help in employment Rehabilitation–Stuttgart, 27, 6976.Google Scholar
Scott, J. (1994) What the papers say. Psychiatric Bulletin, 18, 489491.Google Scholar
Sims, A. (1993) The scar that is more than skin deep: the stigma of depression. British Journal of General Practice, 43, 3031.Google ScholarPubMed
Trute, B., Tefft, B. & Segall, A. (1989) Social rejection of the mentally ill: a replication study of public attitude. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 6976.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.