How to Help Employees Returning to Work Following Depression

Mental health problems, like depressive disorders, are not only among the most common reasons for employees to be off work but they also present difficult challenges to employees returning to work that can result in long-term absence. Functional recovery is hence very important for employees suffering from depression when they intend to return to work after improvement in their mood state. Therefore, it is necessary to collect as much scientific evidence as possible investigating which psychological and occupational interventions improve employee outcomes when returning to work after depression. Recently, in particular, psychiatric rehabilitation programs for returning to work after a mental health struggle have attracted much attention. These programs consist of various activities including exercise, art therapy, psychotherapy (such as mindfulness, cognitive behavior therapy, and existential therapy), job training and so on, offered in a face-to-face or online format. It is yet to be determined which programs and/or activities within those programs are essential for employees returning to work after depression and ultimately remaining at work long-term. Moreover, cost-effective analyses are also important.

This Research Topic focuses on the functional recovery of patients suffering from depression or bipolar disorder. The goal of this Research Topic is to determine which interventions are essential for patients, who continue to suffer from symptoms of depression, returning to work as employees. Therefore, our aim is to collect relevant articles dealing with programs applied to employees returning to work following depression, ranging from individually supportive psychotherapy or individual job training to group therapies such as exercise, art therapy, mindfulness, cognitive behavior therapy, and existential approach therapy, and any other novel individual or group interventions we have not identified. We welcome case reports, observational studies, randomized controlled studies, meta-analyses as well as economic evaluations as submissions. Although the current level of scientific evidence varies, our hope is that through the articles collected in this Research Topic we can draw some firm conclusions regarding the efficacy of interventions used to help employees recovering from depression/bipolar disorder in the return to work process.

We would like to collect various articles, which deal with various methods to increase functional recovery that specifically focus on work rehabilitation, including but not limited to:

• Individual psychotherapy
• Group psychotherapy
• A psychiatric rehabilitation program specifically designed for returning to work
• Internet- and app-based self-help interventions