Most depressing jobs revealed in new study

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Most jobs come with a paycheque, but some also come at a cost.

A new study suggests that workers in certain industries are significantly more likely to battle depression and frequent mental health issues.

Researchers say that the findings should spark employers to rethink how they design their mental health benefits for employees.

In the study, researchers analyzed survey response data from more than half a million U.S. workers collected between 2015 and 2019.

Of those responses, a whopping 80,319 reported having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime, the New York Post reported. Women were diagnosed at twice the rate of men.

Industries that stood out as notably grim for workers’ mental health included community and social service employees, who reported the highest rates of lifetime diagnosed depression. Food-prep workers and servers trailed close behind.

Workers in the arts, entertainment, sports and media also place high on the list, followed by those in health-care support, education and library services.

At the other end of the equation were workers in mining and construction, who reported the lowest rates of lifetime diagnosed depression.

However, those same industries have the highest rate of suicides among U.S. adult workers, and those numbers have continued to climb since 2000.

Researchers said that the gap might be because both fields are male-dominated, and men might be more likely to seek help for mental health issues.

Dr. Manish Sapra, executive director of Northwell Health’s Behavioral Health Service Line, called the study “significant” and emphasized that certain industries need to have tailored support systems for employees at higher risk of mental health challenges related to their jobs.

“With anything we’re doing on well-being or mental health for employees, employers need to customize those benefits and solutions for their specific population and not just pick something off the shelf and give that as a benefit,” he said, per the Post.

Sapra said that health-care workers at Northwell Health often face intense trauma and emotional stress due to witnessing suffering firsthand.

With that in mind, the health system developed specialized support systems, including a peer support network and a stress first aid framework to help employees recognize stress in themselves and others.

“We’ve also developed expanded access to mental health services for our employees, which really helps get them help when they need it,” Sapra said. “We developed some digital technology to do that, basically giving employees access at the touch of a button.”

For other workers, Sapra mentioned the importance of tackling barriers like stigma, cost, and language that might prevent workers from seeking care.

Mental health services must be available when employees can actually use them, he added — for example, offering evening hours for those on daytime shifts.