More than 120,000 Norwegians suffer from work-related anxiety

Researchers have investigated work-related anxiety in four countries. Bullying and lack of psychological support from managers top the list of workplace factors that can lead to serious mental health problems.

The study shows that 11.2 per cent of people in Norway have reduced capacity for work due to work-related anxiety.

“Work-related anxiety is not just stress. Anxiety is the worry that follows you home, steals your sleep, and meets you again the next day at work,” says researcher Leon De Beer.

“If your job feels like an alarm you cannot turn off, it's not stress or a hectic tempo, but anxiety,” says researcher Leoni Van der Vaart.

“Anxiety involves feeling threatened and trapped in an intolerable situation at work,” says researcher Renzo Bianchi.

Sick leave due to mental health problems is increasing

These NTNU researchers are experts in organisational psychology and, together with other researchers, have investigated the prevalence of work-related anxiety in four countries:

• England fared best with the lowest proportion at 3.6 per cent.
• Norway had the second lowest proportion at 4.2 per cent.
• The United States had 5.7 per cent.
• South Africa had the highest proportion at 9.4 per cent.

Researcher Bianchi at NTNU believes that the debate about sick leave must be viewed from a broader historical perspective. 

He explains that we often hear that sick leave in Norway is increasing. But developments over recent decades show that sick leave has actually been fairly stable.

"We have become better at protecting people physically, and the number of people who die or suffer serious physical injuries is lower today. Despite this encouraging picture, it appears that the proportion of sick leave due to mental health issues is tending to rise, which requires our attention,” says Bianchi.

Anxiety has flown under the radar for many years

The researchers used a new tool they developed themselves to identify work-related anxiety. The tool is now available to companies and public health decision-makers.

“Work-related anxiety hasn’t received enough attention. There has been a lot of focus on burnout, which is the more depressive form of overwhelming stress, while anxiety has tended to go under the radar in many countries – including Norway,” says Bianchi.

According to Statistics Norway, as of September this year there are nearly three million employed people in Norway.

Some become physically ill from the anxiety

The NTNU study suggests that more than 120,000 Norwegians may struggle with anxiety in the form of disrupted sleep, muscle pain, memory loss, or concentration problems due to work. 

Some also develop physical illnesses as a result of their anxiety.

The study found that work-related anxiety is associated with many factors, including absence due to illness, previous anxiety disorders, use of anxiety medications, poor general health, and reduced capacity for work.

There are more people with reduced capacity for work due to work-related anxiety than the number who meet the criteria for an anxiety diagnosis. 

"This shows that work-related anxiety can impair work capacity even when people experience moderate symptoms, and not a severe disorder,” says Bianchi.

Traumatic events

“Work-related anxiety may be due to a person being naturally anxious, and therefore anxious in all areas of life, including at work. But there are also many cases where anxiety occurs for the first time at work," says Bianchi.

This can be due to a manager who bullies, sexual harassment, traumatic events that have put their life at risk, or a major failure related to a work task, he explains.

These are top five workplace factors associated with work-related anxiety in Norway:

This creates anxiety at work

• Bullying and a culture characterised by disrespect
• Conflict between working life and private life
• Lack of autonomy in relation to carrying out tasks
• Lack of psychological support from managers
• Uncertainty about future standard of living because the employment situation feels insecure

“It's extremely important that there's a supportive culture at work. Psychological support from managers and colleagues, as well as job security, play a major role,” says Bianchi.

Some people go on sick leave due to work-related anxiety. Others continue to go to work despite their anxiety, but are impacted by it.

“A near-death experience at work can lead to an overwhelming feeling of threat and extreme stress on the job. Psychological support from supervisors and colleagues is then extremely important to prevent the person from being paralysed by fear the next time,” says Bianchi.

Turning down a promotion

The problem with anxiety is that you start becoming anxious about being anxious, the researcher explains. 

"It's a vicious circle that's hard to break. If you feel threatened at work, you are less likely to take responsibility. You may start avoiding situations that make you anxious – like turning down a promotion because it involves speaking in public or leading meetings,” says Bianchi.

He believes that anxiety can also lead to people remaining in a job simply because they feel safe, rather than seeking new opportunities that could involve a more exciting career and higher pay.

 Bianchi highlights that managers have a responsibility to create a sense of security in the workplace.

Managers must create safety at work

“The first thing to do is to put a stop to bullying in the workplace. It's a managerial responsibility to create a culture where derogatory comments among colleagues are not tolerated. A lot of knowledge exists on how to create psychological safety in the workplace, and managers must put this into practice,” says Bianchi.

He also encourages people to seek help.

“Many people have experienced anxiety at least once in their lives. Work-related anxiety can make people decline a promotion because they fear speaking up in meetings, or prevent them from changing jobs even if they're unhappy,” says Bianchi.

Important not to trivialise work-related anxiety

“It's often very difficult to cope with anxiety alone. Psychotherapy may be necessary to get your life back on track. Some people think that it takes many years of therapy, but results can be achieved relatively quickly with intensive work," says Bianchi. 

In general, people are motivated to work hard when in therapy because they really want to get rid of their debilitating symptoms and just feel good again, he elaborates.

Bianchi adds that in order to overcome anxiety, the person must regain a sense of control over situations that they perceive as threatening.

“Basically, it's about learning to stop being afraid of what makes you anxious. Anxiety conditions you into believing that your surroundings are threatening, but therapy helps you learn a form of control over this environment, and that you don’t need to be afraid anymore because you know what to do. And this can be achieved in just a few months with good results,” he says.

Bianchi warns against managers and employers who trivialise work-related anxiety.

“Being employed is often described as a driver of good mental health, but it turns out that this picture is more nuanced. For many people, it may be the workplace itself that leads to debilitating mental disorders. It's very important that we talk more about this so that people know they are not alone,” the researcher says.

Reference:

Bianchi et al. 'The occupational anxiety inventory: A new measure of job-related distress', International Journal of Stress Management, vol. 32, 2025. DOI: 10.1037/str0000371 (Abstract)

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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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