This is an alarming finding.

According to a survey published on June 15, 2018 and conducted by Odoxa for the Lundbeck * laboratory out of 2,026 people over the age of 18 (including 1,083 employees), more than a quarter of French people have already experienced a depression . And for 54% of them, the cause of their malaise would be their job.

The strong pressure linked to it and the management problems are even the first cause of this disease, according to respondents (56%). The unstable or difficult environment and financial difficulties are responsible for 46% and 42% of depressions.

"In the minds of employees, the managerial culture is not progressing on the subject of depression.The misconceptions remain, including the fear of being sidelined," says Elena Ruiz, former HRD of Canal Plus and former Chief Happiness Officer of Paris 2024, in a statement **.

A disease still taboo

Depression remains today a pathology of which we speak little. While 69% of employees would agree to talk about their cancer to occupational health, only 57% would confide about their depression. A more disturbing figure: only 22% would approach the subject with their colleagues.

And the definition of depression is still unclear for some. Of the respondents, 76% of them believe that depression "is an illness that requires medical and psychological support", while only 23% think it is a "pessimistic state of mind" from which we can leave with the will ".

"It was not the case a few years ago, depression was considered a psychological weakness.It must continue to inform, say that this disease is treated," says Raphael Gaillard, psychiatrist at the Sainte-Marie Hospital. Anne of Paris.

Shared opinions on healing depression

Regarding healing, the opinions are very clear. For more than half (51%), depression is a disease that leaves a legacy after its passage, while the other half considers it would be a disease that can be cured completely. For the director of Odoxa, Céline Bracq, it is "an apprehension far from being unjustified, because the person having gone through a depressive episode is well considered as a being a little apart, more fragile than average."

"However, depression is not the cause of a lasting handicap, it is a pathological episode and not an intrinsic state of the person." Like a broken leg, a depression is a fracture in existence, with its care and its temporality.As after a leg fracture, beyond a period of consolidation there is no reason to consider that it persists a fragility ", adds Raphaël Gaillard.

Nearly one in five people have suffered or will suffer from depression during their lifetime in France. The WHO (World Health Organization) believes that the disease, which affects more women, is the leading cause of disability at work in the world.

* www.odoxa.fr/sondage/depression-to-work/
** www.odoxa.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/LUNDBECK-Communique-de-presse-15062018.pdf