L’infortunio psichico da causa lavorativa

Abstract

[Psychological work-related injury]

In Italy the recognition of the occupational injury, caused by acute damage to the mental health of the worker, is still difficult and exceptional. The study points out the clinical case of a worker, recently published, that in the scientific literature is probably, to date, the only event of psychic damage related to work in which an occupational cause has been found and the recognition of an accident at work has been done.

A worker, after a verbal, animated dispute with some colleagues and superiors, had an acute psychiatric agitation attack and went to the nearest emergency room where, on the strength of the anamnesis, the physicians diagnosed an anxiety crisis reactive to the work environment. The worker has been off work for 110 days because of an anxious and depressive syndrome, due to the verbal conflict. In a later assessment, INAIL recognized only the first 30 days of the employee’s time off as injury at work, while judging the following period off work as related to affectivity disturbance due to common disease, not related to work environment.

This case opens new perspective for the occupational physician in the assessment of ASD as work injury and of PTSD as professional disease, suggesting to put more attention to psychiatric health of workers.