A total of 1,735 days were taken off by council staff because of stress last year, new figures reveal.
The high figure is the equivalent to almost five years of sick days.
It was also a huge increase from the year before, when there were only 1,051 absences due to stress.
But the pressures on staff were addressed with Barking and Dagenham council paying £8,270 on providing counselling to stressed-out employees in 2011.
And there was a year-on-year increase since 2010 when £6,420 was spent on counselling, and then £7,693 in 2011.
The data came to light following a Freedom of Information request by London Loves Business.
Across London, staff working in councils have taken off tens of thousands of days and the financial toll on counselling staff is as high as £32,000 per year in some councils.
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