ABSTRACT
In the 1970s, a senior medical officer in the UK, Binoy Chakravorty, noticed that most teachers who took long-term sick leave in one education authority were suffering from psychiatric illnesses. He followed up this observation with a more detailed study looking at teachers who had taken prolonged sick leave of between 2 and 4 years in the years from 1974 to 1983. Seventy-seven per cent of these were suffering from psychiatric disorders and ‘stress was found
to play a significant part in contributing to the mental problems in most cases.’1
