According to the KKH Kaufmännische Krankenkasse, the mental stress on working people in Germany increased drastically in the first half of 2023. This is reflected in the absences, the health insurance company said on Wednesday, citing data on its own insured. Absences due to mental illness have risen to 303 lost days per 100 insured persons – an increase of 85 percent compared to the same period last year. In the recent past there had never been such an increase, the cash register said. “This development is alarming, because we have already almost reached the level of the whole of 2022,” said KKH occupational psychologist Antje Judick. In 2022, the health insurance company registered 339 days of absence per 100 insured persons due to depression, adjustment disorders or anxiety disorders. In 2021 and 2020 it was 287 and in the pre-Corona year 2019 around 274 days. For the study, the KKH evaluated the number of calendar days with a medical certificate from its own members who were compulsorily insured and voluntarily insured.
According to its own information, the KKH is one of the largest nationwide statutory health insurance companies with more than 1.6 million insured persons. The spike in absenteeism isn’t the only alarm signal. There is also evidence that there is an increasing number of severe, long-term cases of mental illness, Judick said. That causes concern – also with a view to the employees who have to cushion the loss of work. They, too, could develop exhaustion-related mental illnesses.
Constant availability via smartphone also causes stress
A representative Forsa survey commissioned by the health insurance company confirms that the stress level among employees is high. The study found that 90 percent of them felt stressed at least occasionally, and around half of them frequently or very frequently. In May, 1,004 people between the ages of 18 and 70 were surveyed nationwide – including 722 employed people. Almost 60 percent of those in employment spoke of increasing stress in the past one to two years. In addition to training and work and crises such as climate change and inflation (47 percent each), it is above all high demands on themselves (51 percent) that people find stressful. Constant availability via smartphone (37 percent) and financial worries (24 percent) also cause stress, and one in six employees suffers from stress-related anxiety.
Other studies revealed a similar picture: According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute Ipsos on behalf of the insurance group Axa, almost a third of those surveyed described themselves as mentally ill. Around 32 percent stated that they suffer from depression, an anxiety or eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or other mental illness. A total of 2,000 people between the ages of 18 and 74 were surveyed online in Germany last fall.
According to the KKH study, the longest absences were due to recurring depression and depressive episodes. Most frequently, however, the doctors diagnosed acute stress reactions and adjustment disorders: With a proportion of 41 percent, these not only caused the most psychologically-related sick leave, the incapacity rate also rose the most here – namely by 42 percent. This shows that more and more people are “under unusual pressure, great strain and constant stress,” explained KKH occupational psychologist Judick. Employees in social professions such as care for the elderly and the sick are particularly affected.