TOKYO (Asahi News Service) -- Concerned by the growing number of workers diagnosed with clinical depression, the health ministry has devised a program to ease sufferers back to office life, officials said Aug. 22.

Officials of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plan to implement the program on a trial basis at a ministry-affiliated facility in Chiba city.

The program, designed to assist people suffering from depression triggered by stress in the workplace, aims to help sufferers who want to return to their jobs and who are deemed well enough to return by a psychiatrist.

Many people diagnosed with clinical depression find it difficult to readjust to working life because they try to work too hard, officials said.

The program aims to prevent this by urging employees to gradually ease themselves back to work.

A lack of understanding and support from colleagues is another problem, officials said.

To stop this, the ministry program calls for counselors to periodically meet with recent returnees to discuss their progress and offer advice to their supervisors.

The program urges participants to cope with the cause of their depression.

For example, participants who struggled to get along with colleagues would be urged to improve their human-relation skills. Participants will follow a stress-management course concurrently, officials said.

Individuals who complete the program will be encouraged to return to their workplace gradually, working limited hours at first, such as only mornings.

Some large companies have programs for depressed employees, but most medium- and small-sized firms do not.

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