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Occupational psychiatry is the amalgam of two fields of medicine: occupational medicine and psychiatry. Occupational medicine deals with the prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries occurring at work and attempts to maintain workers' health, prevent disease, and treat the results of occupational disease or accident. Psychiatry deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders. Occupational psychiatrists have an interest and commitment to understanding work, career and profession as integral parts of a healthy life. This knowledge is applied to improving the emotional well-being of individuals feeling troubled at work for one reason or another.

Occupational psychiatry plays an important role in:

DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS

• Social Security Disability Determination
• Worker's Compensation
• Insurance Compensation
  • Occupational psychiatrists provide diagnoses and offer opinions regarding psychiatric impairments. The ultimate determination of disability is an administrative or judicial decision made administratively by the company or organization or by judicial tribunals.

EMPLOYMENT-RELATED PSYCHIATRIC EXAMINATIONS FOR:

• Determining fitness for duty
  • Fitness for duty evaluations and assessment of risks and safety related to a workers' condition and medications in the workplace.
• Facilitating the rapid return of injured or ill employees.
• Consultations with difficult employees who have problems with relationships in the work place, unresolved problems with competition, assertiveness and inability to communicate verbally in a constructive manner.
• Coordination between managers and staff to support rehabilitation following sick leave for psychiatric disorders, (ie, phased return to work, accessibility to counseling service and helping employees to regain their skills at work).
• Pre-employment screening
• Identifying the best candidates for management or promotion

PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION AND RISK-ASSESSMENT FOR:

• Potential workplace violence
• Potential threats to workplace safety and productivity
• Provide treatment for impaired or disruptive executives and professionals, which may include psychotherapy and medication management.
• Train managers and workers to raise awareness and understanding of stress, its possible causes and how to deal with it, and/or how to help employees adapt to workplace changes.
• Helping organizations develop social policies and procedures to address substance abuse, sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.

PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION AND CONSULTATION FOR:

• Safety-sensitive occupations
• Situations when an employee is demonstrating behavioral problems on the job: alcohol or substance abuse, family or relationship issues, psychiatric trauma, maladaptive personality traits, or stress-related symptoms which are affecting the ability to perform the job in a safe and effective manner.
• Situations when risk assessments are needed in order to ascertain the reliabiloity, trustworthiness and mental stability of employees or prospective employees in the hiring process.