Depressed? The company just may want to help

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Work is likely the last place an employee might go to seek help for depression, but employees who took part in a workplace intervention program had fewer symptoms and were far more productive, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

Depression has a huge personal cost, but it also costs U.S. companies -- to the tune of tens of billions of dollars by some estimates.

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that investing in depression intervention programs can help both the workers and the company.

Dr. Ken Wells of the University of California, Los Angeles, who wrote an editorial in the same issue, said the study offers a compelling argument for investing in depression care.

"There have been prior studies in the last four to five years that have shown the link between employment and recovery of employment and depression treatment," he said in a telephone interview.

"This is the first study that really focuses exclusively on that story in the work force."

The study was led by Dr. Philip Wang of the National Institute of Mental Health. He and colleagues studied 604 workers with significant depression who were covered by behavioral health plans through their companies.

Half the workers were contacted through a telephone outreach program and encouraged to seek outpatient treatment -- therapy, antidepressants, or both.