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2
Abstract
Rehabilitation of mental illness and chronic pain – the impact on sick leave
and health
1
This paper exploits a government initiative to analyze the effect of cognitive
behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals with mild or moderate mental
illness and multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) for individuals with pain in
back and shoulders. We employ a propensity score matching approach to
study the effects on sick leave, health care consumption and drug
prescriptions. We find that CBT improved health and prevented sick leave
for individuals who were not on sick leave when treatment was initiated but
had no effect for individuals who were on sick leave when the treatment
was initiated. MDT was a failure regardless of the individual’s sick leave
status at the time of treatment. MDT increased sick leave while having no
long term impact on either health care visits or drug prescriptions.
Pathric Hägglund
2
, Per Johansson
3
and Lisa Laun
4
Keywords: Mental diseases, Chronic pain, Sick leave, Propensity score
matching
JEL-codes: H43, I13, J22
1
We are grateful for comments from Nikolay Angelov, Marcus Eliason, Malin
Josephson, Martin Lundin, Ingemar Petersson, Peter Skogman Thoursie and
seminar participants at the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF) and the
Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU). We also want
to thank Charlotte Bergknut, Anna Jöud and Ingemar Petersson at Epi-centrum
Skåne for their cooperation and assistance with data, as well as Anja Nyberg at
Region Skåne.
2
Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF)
3
Uppsala University, Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy
(IFAU) and IZA
4
Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)