Return to Work: Promoting Health and Productivity in Workers With Common Mental Disorders

Evidence-based clinical treatments for common mental disorders, such as CBT and/or pharmacotherapy, have resulted in significant and sustained improvement in clinical symptoms. However, the individual-focused treatments rarely have sickness absence as a target of intervention or evaluate work-related outcomes, such as return to work. A recent review of the evidence for managing stress at work showed that individual interventions give effects on mental health measures but did not impact absenteeism at work. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of two different rehabilitation models, one based on psychotherapy and the other on workplace-interventions, when these are offered as standalone interventions and in combination for patients with adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders.