News Release

American Psychiatric Association launches new mental health workplace publication

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American Psychiatric Association

Arlington, Va. – The American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Psychiatric Foundation have just launched a new quarterly publication, Mental HealthWorks, in partnership with The National Partnership for Workplace Mental Health.

Mental HealthWorks, a one-stop resource of workplace mental health information, aims to facilitate dialogue between psychiatry and business on a variety of workplace mental health issues. It provides current information and resources on how business and psychiatry address these issues.

Topics in the first issue include an interview with Catherine Baase, M.D., Dow Chemical's Global Medical Director, on how Dow views healthcare as an investment instead of a cost. Other highlights include research on depression's toll on worker productivity, tips for managing employee mental health when disaster strikes and assessing depression in the workplace.

"Mental HealthWorks is an indispensable publication for today's employers," says James H. Scully, Jr., MD., APA medical director. "It is a great example of psychiatry and corporations working together toward the same goal, a mentally healthy and productive workforce."

More than 12,000 APA members who treat patients in the workplace, and over 10,000 CEOs, corporate human resource directors and medical directors receive Mental HealthWorks free of charge. It is available online at no cost to the public, at http://www.workplacementalhealth.org.

Workdays lost to depression exceed absences due to diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and back problems. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that lost productivity, absenteeism, and disability due to mental illness cost U.S. employers an estimated $70 billion annually. The National Partnership for Workplace Mental Health provides information, resources, training, and understanding to enable employers and employees to succeed in the face of disaster, trauma, terror and uncertain economic times.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society, founded in 1844, whose 38,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. For more information, visit the APA Web site at http://www.psych.org.

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