I never thought I'd say this...
...but USA Today continues to do good mental-health reporting. From Sunday's issue:
Despite its stigma, a growing number of employers and employees are addressing a topic that has long been taboo: mental illness in the workplace. Employees' emotional health, a topic that once seemed incongruous with the survival-of-the-fittest corporate arena, is getting attention as a real bottom-line issue. Employers are beefing up mental health services as new research shows the staggering cost of mood disorders—depression, anxiety and panic disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder—can have on businesses.
The rest of the article is well worth reading, though I can't help question the anecdote that closes the item, to wit:
Southwest Airlines employees sometimes pull pranks on co-workers once they've passed their probationary period. But customer-service agent Marcie Fuerschbach says this joke went too far.At the end of her probation at her job in Albuquerque, co-workers got police officers to handcuff her in a mock arrest. By the time she was in on the joke, she was crying and scared, according to the lawsuit she filed. Later that day, found crying in the bathroom, Fuerschbach was sent home. She says she had to see a psychologist and was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. She settled her case out of court with police. She lost her case against Southwest.
Oh, tee hee. What a funny joke! I wish my co-workers were more prank-minded. Maybe I'd end up in a straitjacket in our conference room.
The piece ends with the information that Fuerschbach now takes Lexapro, "which is used for treating depression and anxiety."
