Toronto, Jan 12 (IANS) Depressed employees become more productive after undergoing treatment than those who don’t receive treatment, suggests a study.

The study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) examined data from a large-scale community survey of employed and recently employed people in Alberta.

People who experienced a depressive episode were significantly less likely to be highly productive, the study showed, reported the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

“What’s exciting is we found that treatment for depression improves work productivity,” said Carolyn Dewa, head of CAMH’s Centre for Research on Employment and Workplace Health, who led the study, according to a university statement.

“People who had experienced a moderate depressive episode and received treatment were 2.5 times more likely to be highly productive compared with those who had no treatment,” she said.

“Likewise, people who experienced severe depression were seven times more likely to be high-performing than those who had no treatment,” added Dewa.

Of the 3,000 workers in the sample, 8.5 percent experienced a depressive episode, representing 255 workers.