Brazil records an explosion in mental health-related leave: over 470,000 cases and a 1341% increase in the number of leaves.

Brazil is experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis in the workplace. According to official data from the Ministry of Social Security, in 2024 alone, the National Social Security Institute (INSS) received 472,000 requests for leave due to mental and behavioral disorders. Anxiety is the leading cause, with 141,414 cases, followed by depressive episodes (113,604).

The alarm intensifies with recent data presented by the Labor Prosecution Office (MPT) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Brazil: leave related to mental health increased by 134% between 2022 and 2024. Among the main reasons are reactions to stress (28.6%), anxiety (27.4%), and recurrent depression (8.46%).

According to Dr. Lilian Gontijo, a specialist in Family and Community Medicine from the Hospital das Clínicas at UFMG, with additional training in Geriatrics and Gerontology, who practices an integrative functional approach, these numbers reflect the collapse of a lifestyle model based on excessive demands and disconnection from the body's real needs. “We live in a culture of hyper-productivity, with increasingly blurred boundaries between work and personal life. The human body was not designed to remain in a constant state of alert,” she states.

According to her, chronic stress manifests throughout the entire organism: from hormonal and digestive changes to neurological and emotional symptoms. “Persistent muscle pain, sleep disorders, irritability, palpitations, cognitive lapses, low immunity, and menstrual irregularities are common signs, but they are often treated in isolation,” she explains. “The problem is that the body is crying out on multiple fronts simultaneously.”

In the Integrative approach, care begins with detailed listening, a patient history that assesses the patient's trajectory, and laboratory investigations that seek evidence of inflammation, hormonal dysfunction, cortisol dysregulation, and impact on the gut microbiota. “Stress is biochemical, emotional, and behavioral all at once. The integrative approach allows us to see these layers together and act before it turns into a chronic disease,” she states.

Dr. Lilian emphasizes that many patients only realize they are becoming ill from stress when they are diagnosed with something more serious—such as an autoimmune condition, a metabolic syndrome, or a disabling depressive episode. “These diseases don't appear out of nowhere. They are built day after day by a lifestyle that ignores the subtle signs.”

How to identify the signs before the body goes into collapse?

Constant irritability, insomnia, apathy, difficulty concentrating, recurrent pain, and persistent digestive changes are not just signs of tiredness—they are physiological alerts that the organism is under overload. “Many people think it's normal to live tired or sleep poorly, but these symptoms are the tip of the iceberg. The body is trying to communicate that something is off balance,” explains Dr. Lilian. A feeling of a “racing mind,” decreased work performance, low immunity, high blood pressure, and hormonal changes also deserve attention, especially when they become frequent.

According to the doctor, when the patient seeks help at the first signs, the chances of reversal are much greater. “In Integrative Functional Medicine, we can intervene before this overload evolves into more serious diseases. Chronic stress is silent but profoundly disruptive. Recognizing the signs and acting consciously is an act of self-care—and, often, the beginning of a life change.”