The Growing Crisis of Psychological Injuries in Modern Workplaces

In an age where mental health awareness is supposedly at its peak, we're witnessing a paradoxical surge in workplace psychological injuries. As highlighted in a recent Sunday Telegraph article by psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed, psychological claims through workers' compensation schemes have doubled over the past six years, creating what he describes as a "road to ruin for struggling small businesses."

The Changing Landscape of Mental Health Claims

What was once a rigorous diagnostic process requiring exposure to objectively threatening events has morphed into something far more subjective. Ahmed notes that psychological injury claims, particularly PTSD claims, have quadrupled in the past two decades.

This shift reflects a fundamental change in how we conceptualize mental health in workplace contexts. The article points out that psychological injuries now represent a third of all claims filed, with the average claim costing businesses around $27,000 — significantly higher than physical injuries. More troubling is the recovery trajectory: psychological claimants take longer to return to work, with only a 35-40% return-to-work rate within a year, compared to 88% for physical injuries.

Documentary Evidence in Psychological Claims

For those of us trying to show powerful narratives of psychological trauma, this presents unique challenges. Unlike physical injuries that can be captured visually, psychological damage remains largely invisible to the camera lens. Yet the impact is undeniably real.

The article mentions that almost half of NDIS recipients qualify due to psychological reasons, despite the scheme being originally designed for physical disability. This statistic alone demonstrates how our social systems are struggling to adapt to the reality of mental health conditions in the modern workplace.

The Cultural Context

What Ahmed's article expertly identifies is the cultural shift underpinning this change. Today's workplace psychological claims exist within a broader societal framework where, as he puts it, "we all parade a marker of our identity" through psychological conditions, similar to fashion choices or political party affiliations.

For documentary filmmakers and journalists covering this phenomenon, there's a delicate balance to maintain. We must validate genuine psychological suffering while also examining the systemic issues that may be enabling what Ahmed describes as "troubled minds" replacing "bad backs" in compensation claims.

Documenting the Invisible

How do we effectively document something as intangible as psychological injury?

Unlike a workplace accident that can be recreated or physically demonstrated, mental trauma exists primarily in the lived experience of the individual. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for innovative storytelling approaches.

Working on Shattered we have endeavoured to find ways to visualize:

• The everyday struggles of those with genuine psychological injuries

• The systemic failures that both create these injuries and severely complicate recovery

• The economic and social impacts on both individuals and organizations

Pathologising Normal Human Reactions

We must also acknowledge the complexity Ahmed highlights: while many claims are undoubtedly genuine, the systems handling them may be ill-equipped for proper assessment and support.

The "adjustment disorder" diagnosis he mentions — which can pathologize normal human reactions to upset and adversity — exemplifies how blurred the lines have become.

The Path Forward for Shattered

For our work on Shattered and our documentary practice, we stand at a critical crossroads. We must approach these invisible wounds with both compassion and rigorous inquiry. That can be challenging to show on film. We cannot allow our work to feed into either the stigmatization that silences victims, worse still victim blames or the over-medicalization that transforms human suffering into clinical commodities.

Guided by experts in psychology, workplace law, and rehabilitation, we're examining the systemic failures rather than simply cataloging individual traumas. The legal paradox is particularly troubling: how can adversarial litigation processes—often dragging on for years with passive-aggressive tactics—possibly benefit someone already suffering from severe psychological injury? Yet that is the existing system design. These systems, ostensibly designed to provide justice, frequently exacerbate conditions where suicide ideation is already common, turning a workplace injury into a life-threatening ordeal. Sadly, when the injured complain, the system responds that it will guide the individual through 'the process'.

This latter point cuts to the heart of the crisis: workplace abuse triggers natural human responses—grief, anger, distrust, anxiety—that increasingly get labeled as disorders requiring treatment rather than injustices demanding correction. When we medicalize normal reactions to toxic environments, we shift responsibility from failed systems to "broken" individuals.

Through Shattered, we commit to illuminating this complex reality. Our cameras may not capture psychological injuries as easily as physical ones, but they can reveal the environments that breed them, the faces that bear their weight, and the institutions that too often fail in their response.

The growing epidemic of workplace psychological injuries demands more than documentation—it requires a transformation in how we understand, discuss, and address human suffering in professional contexts. We aim to spark not just conversation but conversion—from systems that pathologize pain to communities that honor resilience while demanding accountability.

This is not just about making a documentary for us. It never was.. It's about making a better world of work.