Dilemmas of Clinicians on the Return to Work of People with a Common Mental Disorder: Illustrated by Clinical Cases
Introduction Common mental disorders (CMD) are one of the leading causes of workplace disability worldwide. Many studies show that the longer a person is on sick leave, the less likely they are returning to work. It is therefore important that the duration of a work absence be an adequate duration to allow the individual to make a lasting recovery while reducing the risk of relapse. Clinicians have an important role to play in the professional recovery of people with CMD. Purpose The main objective of this article is to present clinical cases supported by the literature related to the management of return to work by clinicians treating their patients with CMD. Methods Based on clinical observations, three clinical cases illustrating several dilemmas that clinicians may encounter when managing return to work of their patients with a CMD are presented. These dilemmas are supported by articles published between 2000 and 2020 from the Medline and PsycInfo databases. Results and discussion Three clinical cases address dilemmas related to the following themes: 1) the assessment of the therapeutic potential of work absence, 2) the expert role given to clinicians and the process of assessing work disability, 3) the administrative aspects related to this assessment and 4) the impact of this assessment on therapeutic alliance between the clinician and his/her patient with CMD. The literature tells us that these are recurring dilemmas for clinicians when managing the return to work of their patients with CMD. Conclusions There are several dilemmas in the management of sick leave among workers with CMD by clinicians. These dilemmas highlight, among other things, the importance for clinicians to work collaboratively with other stakeholders and to obtain their support and collaboration. These observations lead us to conduct a more systematic review of the experience of clinicians and their needs.