New figures show council workers are feeling the strain of having to do more with less in these times of tightening belts.

Unlike other illnesses, stress can be a difficult one to spot, often without noticeable exterior symptoms.

Often this can lead to stigmatising and the underlying snide insinuation that people are either too weak to cope or are taking the easy way out.

This is clearly not the answer to the solution and rising stress levels should be a major alarm bell to bosses that something is not right. The problem is its difficult to turn around once the pattern has been set. It can become a vicious cycle once staff start missing work, putting increasing pressure on those individuals when they come back.