The End of the Party is a new book by Andrew Rawnsley that describes with clinical detail the profound depression and mental decline that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered in the last several months of his premiership as a result of the way the war in Iraq was developing. It now appears that Teflon Tony was, after all, as vulnerable to severe stress as most of us are.

It brought to my mind the numerous instances I witnessed in my career in business of people who were damaged by the workplace stress they had to endure. Some of them, just like Tony Blair, pulled back from the brink. Others continued to carry the scars for many years and in the process affected the well-being of their families.

Severe workplace stress is far more common than some think. Here, I am not referring to bouts of irritation that we all experience as a result of unavoidable pressures that the increasingly demanding workplace conditions provoke. Research conducted in the UK confirms that about a third of workers suffer severe stress that leads to depression, anxiety, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

I have seen all kinds of people succumbing to the symptoms of severe stress. I know of very competent young people driven too hard by their demanding bosses to hit production targets that were increasingly ambitious and often unrealistic. It is so sad to see young people in the prime of their life suffering from burnout and resorting to anxiety reduction drugs.

Others have had to cope with insensitive bosses that know little or nothing about emotional intelligence. Bullying remains prevalent in some of our workplaces and these bullies are perhaps even more prevalent in government influenced organisations where some executives still believe that they are untouchable because they can rely on the dubious advantages of political patronage. Ironically, some of these managers are born charmers that often project an image of slick professionalism that, however, is only skin deep.

Other victims of workplace stress are women who have to cope with the immense pressures caused by their multiple responsibilities relating to their family roles and their professional employment.

Our society is still not sensitive enough to the consequences of exposing working mothers to the harsh and inflexible realities of the workplace.

But, it is not only those in employment that are exposed to workplace stress. Self-employed people often have to struggle on a daily basis to ensure that at the end of the week there is enough income to support themselves and their families. These people often wrongly suffer from lack of support by the public and the faceless bureaucrats. Yet the self-employed work as hard as other committed workers and they do so without the peace of mind that comes from job security.

There are also others in public life who are stuck in the long dark tunnel of depression that often is the direct consequence of excessive occupational stress. Doctors and other healthcare workers share the miseries that people suffer when they are seriously ill. Our health workers are often unsupported by the medical infrastructure and soldier on in the performance of their invaluable duties.

The human cost of workplace stress is immense. Apart from the physical and mental health consequences on the victims of stress, society is also paying a high social cost in the form of family breakdowns with the predictable consequences on the couples involved in such breakdowns and their children.

Our political and business leaders need to focus more on the urgent need to reduce workplace stress. This is not only socially desirable, but also makes business sense. We can no longer ignore the needless suffering of those who have reached the brink of sanity because no one really cares about their well-being.

Let us not longer appease our conscience with empty rhetoric about how much we care for those who have to earn a living by their work - whether they are employed or are self-employed. Many of our workers need to be pulled back from the brink of the human degradation that can often be the result of severe workplace stress.

Now is the time to act, if we really believe in the values of a fair society.

jcassarwhite@yahoo.com