Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

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Key definition

Depression definition

What does Depression mean? In legal and commercial practice, depression describes a prolonged, severe macroeconomic downturn marked by significant falls in output (GDP), prices (deflation/disinflation), employment and credit. It is a descriptive term, not defined in UK or Irish legislation or case law, and has no fixed legal threshold. Practitioners see it used as context in drafting and disputes: material adverse change (MAC/MAE) provisions in M&A and finance; hardship or market disruption clauses; force majeure (pure economic conditions are usually excluded); valuation, rent review and damages; and restructuring/insolvency, where statutory tests concern inability to pay or balance‑sheet insolvency, not the label “depression”. It is not synonymous...

Occupational stress and workplace harassment claims in England and Wales: psychiatric injury in negligence versus PHA 1997, thresholds, foreseeability, vicarious liability and limitation

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Practice notes

This Practice Note addresses ‘traditional’ occupational stress claims, clarifies what amounts to occupational stress, and considers claims under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA 1997). See also Practice Note: Occupational stress—establishing liability.

‘Traditional’ occupational stress claims

These matters concern situations where a claimant has sustained a distinct psychiatric injury arising from pressures encountered at work. ‘Occupational stress’ is a descriptor of the context in which the psychiatric illness has arisen; it does not denote any specific diagnosis. It serves as context rather than a clinical classification. Any recognised psychiatric condition that has foreseeably emerged due to workplace stresses may, in principle, ground an occupational stress claim. Accordingly, liability rests on recognised psychiatric harm arising from workplace pressures. Where a claimant is experiencing occupational stress (ie stress at work) and lacks a recognisable psychiatric injury, no claim of this sort lies. See Practice Note: Recognised psychiatric illness.

What constitutes occupational stress?

The Health and Safety Executive employs the term ‘stress’ and defines it as the ‘adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’...

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Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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