Supporting the return to work following sick leave for a depressive disorder: why and how?
Depressive disorders have become one of the main causes of sick leave in recent years. For the individuals concerned, the risk of long-term work disability is very real and generates considerable human and social costs, not to mention financial costs. Despite its importance, the issue of the return to work is rarely presented to primary care professionals, among others, as a priority to be factored into their clinical interventions. The latter thus have very few guidelines to help them choose the best intervention for promoting a timely return to work and may even question the relevance of such an objective. The purpose of this article is therefore to propose a set of reference points for primary care professionals by answering the following question: why and how should the return to work be supported following sick leave for a depressive disorder? The first part of the article provides an overview of current knowledge that supports the relevance of early intervention to the prevention of long-term work disability. The second part proposes a number of promising interventions for achieving this objective and feasible for primary care professionals. These proposals are based on recent research work by our team.