Mental health issues, including depression, in Australia are continuing to increase. It can affect older and younger individuals alike, as well as men and women. If you are an employee of an organisation, you would know that work can sometimes be stressful, demanding and employers can require unreasonable work demands. But how do depression and job stress  relate to each other?

A recent study at the University of Melbourne has shown that approximately 1 in 6 cases of depression among working Victorians was caused by job related stress. Women are more likely to be affected than men, and alarmingly, low-skilled workers are twice as likely to be affected as those working in higher-skilled professions.

Previous research has shown that job stress doubles the risk of depression. Job stress is considered to be a combination of high job demands and minimal control over how tasks get done.

The challenge is obviously to reduce stress in the workplace. Not only is it a mental and physical health risk, but it also results in less productive employees. However, this is easier said than done. Reducing job stress involves a combination of management changes, organisational changes, human resource changes and changes in an individual employees lifestyle (ie. increased exercise and physical health).