Maudsley Talks – Is there such a thing as a stress free job with Professor Sir Simon Wessely
Professor Wessely’s insightful and witty Maudsley Talk discussed the UK’s epidemic of stress, the rising concerns around diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders and the risks this poses on the future of mental healthcare.
He shared findings from a paper that questioned if reports of psychological stress are higher in occupation surveys, reviewing studies across occupation and population.
The paper found that when self-assessing stress levels compared to undergoing in-person neutral interviews, there is a significant drop in prevalence, highlighting that time, place and occupational associations may be a key determinant for perceptions of stress.
Opening Maudsley Talks for the first time since his appointment, our Chief Executive, Paul Calaminus said: “It was a really interesting talk and a really important topic. It has raised so many questions about how we’re going to work together to really try and address what is – however you define it – a mental health crisis. This is a big part of a challenge of our times.
It’s incredible to have one of the country’s leading experts at our talk series to share how our work class research, insight and innovation is supporting the future of mental healthcare.”
Discussing the increase of neurodevelopmental disorder diagnoses, Professor Wessely cited some of the possible explanations for the surge in diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders. These include:
- A catch-up phase following previous gaps in diagnosis
- Broadening scope of diagnosis for both ADHD and Autism
- The recognition of reoccurrence
- Social and societal changes
- Market forced into diagnostic pathways to access accurate support
- The increase of symptoms since the global pandemic
Recommendations and reports from the independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and Autism, co-authored by Professor Wessely will be published soon.
Professor Wessely said: “This subject is always challenging because I’m aware there are very big differences of opinion which are not easily reconciled. Hopefully we’ve tried to push that there is some more common ground than we think.”
Sign up to the next talk:, Maudsley Talks: Menopause
The next talk will mark Menopause Awareness Month which takes place in October. The event will take place online on 21 October and will create space for a dialogue between psychiatry and gynaecology to explore menopause and mental health. Our speakers are Professor Michael Craig, Professor Deborah Bruce and Dr Maria Antonietta Nettis.