Ground down down under

A huge Australian study of more than 60,500 people looked into the incidence and risk factors for workplace stress. The study found that nearly 5% of employees had high levels of psychological distress associated with a high likelihood of a mental disorder. With another 9.6% of people suffering from moderate psychological distress. Only 22% of the highly-stressed workers were currently receiving treatment, 29% admitted to having a problem but had not sought treatment while 31% denied having a problem. People who worked in sales and/or who were expected to work for more than 60 hours a week had the highest levels of stress. Working in non-traditional gender roles (i.e. women working as labourers and men working as secretaries) was also associated with more workplace stress as were marital separation and low levels of education.

You can read more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/14/worksite-psychological-stress/2599.html