Since it is National Boss Day, I wanted to continue a conversation that was started on the combox of my post "Job Stress Triggers Depression" about the relationship between work and depression.
An anonymous Beyond Blue reader wrote this:
The connection between work stress and depression is undeniable, and it can start a cycle that feeds on itself. As job stress begins to overwhelm, job performance may suffer, which leads to guilt, which adds more stress, which may amplify depression, and on and on etc. A man is what he does, "John, he's a lawyer, Bill, yeah I know him, he sells insurance". Other factors may initiate the depression, but once started, it WILL spread into a man's work life, and the cycle begins.
From "lack of control" to "low wages," those are EXACTLY the things you are forced to accept as your resume gets more and more checkered from interruptions due to depressive episodes -- making it more likely your resume will become even more checkered and you will have further depressive episodes. What a freakin' Catch-22 ...
And on the September Newbie discussion thread at Group Beyond Blue, member Cornfoot wrote:
My depression pretty much destroyed my career path and now I'm struggling along lost and trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
J. Raymond DePaulo Jr, M.D. provides some statistics on how directly depression impacts the economy and the work force in "Understanding Depression":
Depression alone costs more than $44 billion in the United States economy each year. The impact on society includes decreased economic productivity because of days of work lost due to illness [estimated at 172 million days yearly] as well as increased health costs. And because few people with depression receive diagnosis and treatment, the costs for them, their families, and their employers is even greater. Of the 11 million who suffer from depression each year, about 7.8 million (72 percent) are in the workforce. Major depression carries the greatest risk of disability days and days lost from work. (A disability day is defined as a day during which a person spent all or part of the day in bed due to an illness or was kept from usual activities due to feeling ill.)
I remember all the discussions fellow patients and I had about work re-entry back in my outpatient program at Laurel Hospital. Almost all of us took baby steps on our way back to the office. One man who had held a prominent position at a large consulting firm was asked to go return to work ASAP. The nurses and other patients, myself included, were concerned for him: tackling too much stress too soon. After he listened to some of us and to his family, he opted to do part-time consulting for a month or two before he resumed his responsibilities.
I wasn't able to work at all for six months, and when I slowly started accepting writing assignments again, it was with great trepidation because I had such little confidence in myself. As advised from a friend, I enrolled in a writing class--a way to build up my self-assurance. And I took baby steps--small projects, one after another--that stacked up, one on top of another, eventually grounded and supported me in the working world to take the leap ... when I launched Beyond Blue.
Holding a day job is undoubtedly one of the hardest challenges of a person suffering from any kind of mood disorder. But hanging in there, and staying employed can be very good for recovery. Writes Dr. DePaulo:
Despite the problems people with depression face on the job, they're usually still better off going to work if they can. The ability to maintain some day-to-day functioning, especially outside of the home, is helpful. For one thing, it gives them a reason to get out of bed in the morning, one of the hardest things to do when depressed. Work also provides a good distraction from the illness for most patients. And completing even simple tasks means that the patient accomplished something that others value.
To read more Beyond Blue, go to www.beliefnet.com/beyondblue, and to get to Group Beyond Blue, a support group at Beliefnet Community, click here.
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Some mornings, the only two things that get me out of bed are Schumie (my dog) and the need to, as I joke, "earn bones" for her.
There are times when even my beloved Ana can't reach me ...
So much truth to this topic. I work full time but some days it is so hard to just put one foot on the floor and get out of bed. But I have to. Job responsibilities and family responsibilities (as main provider) do not allow the depression "to win". Some times I find myself angered by people who say they are disabled by mental illness (depression specifically). I believe the only way that can happen is one has the means to let it happen. To just give up and let your family down and then to rely on society or government to take care is just plain wrong and a cop out. I dont mean to sound mean or uncaring. It's how I feel and maybe, a bit of sour grapes, because some days I just need to shut down.......and I cant.
Earlier this week an employee of mine, who I supervise, spent two days at home, sick days if you will, with fever and stomach virus. No question asked, everyone understood. "Get well, see you in a few days." I cant imagine calling in and saying, "I'm depressed, cant get out of bed, cant think, am so numb I can hardly move".
Is depression an illness. Not sure. It surely is not accepted as such, save for the pharmaceutical and psychiatric community of owe their livelihood to such labels.
So, each day I suck it up and move on.
Hi Im Trish, working is a hard task for me when Im feeling so depressed and the BP is kicking me . the people that i work with do know when im feeling bad and they really push my buttons.Im a very good worker, I help everyone mostly I will overdo myself.they know about my illness and it don;t matter,I have been through hell most of my life started very young, have had two mental breakdowns im on meds .Im going through seperation from my husband three years now after 36 years of marrage.Im alone ,keep to myself. just me and my two dogs. Its very hard to get through a day when people do things to hurt you . I feel a lot of times just ending it all. but what keeps me going is my child,,,,,,shes so loves me and needs me and i dont wont to hurt her that way,,,,,,,,,but its really hard!!!
I'm a new reader, and this post is eerily timely for me. I just got the paperwork in to take a medical leave for depression. I can understand Creston's point above; but I'm a teacher. When I start having morning where I cry uncontrollably and nothing can make it stop, or anything retriggers it, there is no way I can perform my job satisfactorily. Teaching is such a stressful job that there are teachers without mood disorders who break down in the classroom, burst into tears in front of the kids, etc. I think I'm doing them a disservice to go into the classroom when I can only squeak by, because they are depending on me (amongst other teachers) for their education, and for the next few weeks, at least, they can have someone that's actually fit to teach and help them learn in the classroom while I get well enough to be more like that enthusiastic and energetic person I am at other times (I have SAD as well, and that makes it worse in the winters).
So I decided to go ahead with the medical leave--it is the option that works best for me, and, luckily for me, I have been saving up money in an emergency fund, so I can (although just barely) afford to take the time off.
It is difficult though--no one would question my decision if I'd broken my leg, developed pneumonia, or had complications from diabetes. It's only questionable when it is depression, and when there are people who think it is not an illness, or believe it is a choice. Which is what I hate most. Who would chose to be this way?
I have found that while any occupation has its pros and cons, its the people with whom we are thrown together that can contribute more to depression. I can state in all truth that I just don't like people. Generally, I believe most people are entirely self serving. Be in no doubt that each and every one of us are continually exploited and exploit others for our own and others agendas. Productivity = Money? Money after all is the god of the ages, but even the rich master exploiters are vulnerable to depression so "money isn't everything" as the saying goes. Back then to the people, the master manipulators, the emotional blackmailers and even those who perhaps innocently just feel the need to be valued. After all, what are friends and family? Who are enemies and distant? Why do we actively try and change peoples opinion and mindset? From individuals right up to countries, we are constantly trying to impose our will over another. Why? Some notion of value I think, whether monetary or otherwise, it must come down to what we think we want. Want = Value? Without notions of value, we are depressed.
National Boss Day? Why not National Exploitation Day? If it were this would be a true celebration by nations. Creston above had a valid point. Sure it smats of "suck it up" like everybody else. What makes you so special? Which incidentely, is a very similar attitude to that which perpetuates a generations inequities and equities onto their offspring. His writing is not engrained in the certainties that people bombard us with each day. When I used to count myself part of the whole, a tax paying cog in the wheel, everyone who claimed depression and 'leached' off the rest of us were a waist. If I could get over a terrible upbringing then so could they. If I could move on from the loss of family then so could they. Perhaps more revealing of my nature was "So SHOULD they". "Sour grapes" indeed. What I NEVER considered was: Why should they? Why should I want them too? Does my will override theirs? Without this questioning I remained special, perhaps even stronger. Oh my feeble mind.
Some time ago my black and white world fell away. No longer was there a right and wrong, friends and enemies, a good and evil. My likes are still likes although most serve only me. My hates are still hates but I am no longer fed them, whether they come from within myself or from the established order of things, I forever ask why. I literally question everything rather unquestioningly accept someone else's truth. If I do anything today it will be to understand something to get the meaning of this near life long gut feeling. Rage, despair, anguish, depression etc., are simply words that convey meaning to some and nothing to others. Call it the World, Society, in villages and in families, we are what it made us.
I have come to understand that the root of all conflict and despair, is when one imposes it's will to the detriment of another. Thus I am more depressed today than I ever was. The structure of the world leads us born into servitude. Born into families already under the iron grip of inequality and ineptitude, who's twisted values lay prey in our vulnerable infancy. Even a cursory look around reveals a multitude offering their truth, begging your trust. There isn't a man/woman alive whom I could fully trust. Not one without an agenda to serve his/her perceived reality. Living and breathing under someone else's yoke just doesn't sit right. That old gut feeling again.
After cursing Almighty God for much of my life, I realise now that the worlds suffering is the work of mankind. Of course half of me is still stuck in the 'great debate', evolution or creation, searching for meaning and purpose. The other half however, sits with the biblical Almighty who has explained the fall of man. Who has also promised his return when the time is right. For this half of me: No Almighty = No hope. Peace and good luck to us all.
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