Considerable working time is lost because of unemployment or sick leave due to OCD. Only a small proportion of eligible patients with OCD apply for disability compensation and an even smaller proportion receive it. Our study demonstrates the significance of OCD to the psychosocial aspects of workers' lives and emphasizes that the assessment of OCD outcome should relate not only to the medical but also to the psychosocial aspect of the disease.

One of the most common occupational diseases is skin disease caused as a result of contact with work-related materials or exacerbated by them. Although occupational-related skin disease is a common condition, it is not considered to be a serious one and, therefore, has not received satisfactory attention in the psycho-social literature or in the social work profession. In our study, 70 occupational contact dermatitis (OCD) patients were interviewed by telephone regarding psychological, social, economic, and subjective issues related to the disease. All patients reported to be affected in their daily living activities, self-image, economic status, and in their interpersonal relationships in the family. Our study seeks to highlight the problems of this population group and serve as a vehicle to facilitate patient's rights.

The article deals with unremitting stress experienced by social workers dealing with terror victims. The article will describe the activity of social workers responsible for setting up a hospital information center. It will describe how they assist families searching for their loved ones and the process of identifying victims. The process in which the uncertainty is treated, the anxiety is contained, bad news are conveyed and concrete solutions are provided, will be elaborated on. Special emphasis will be placed on the multifaceted complimentary relationship between team members and between the provision of support, role exchange and the opportunity to share difficult experiences. The team is expert in identifying both personal and collective signs of distress. This is of particular significance and importance in connection with compassion fatigue, survival guilt, anxiety, depression and on- going burnout, regarding themselves and their colleagues. The article will propose organizational and clinical solutions, which could also be of service to other frameworks within the health system.