Depression at the Workplace: Signs and Management

Dr. Ameet Aggarwal, ND

Do you hate your job, feel that it is stressing you out, you’re not getting along with your colleagues or your boss? Do you always wonder why you’re still working there and dream of a day that you will eventually leave? Then you may be suffering from a case of workplace depression.

How do you know whether your depression is caused by your workplace?

Some scientists say one cannot get depressed simply from work, there has to be more that is going on in a person’s life or someone is predisposed to having depression. One can feel depressed for fear of losing a job or not being able to make decisions at work thus unable to deal with certain situations.

Symptoms of workplace depression could include feeling tired all the time, being passive, don’t want to deal with your colleagues always keeping to yourself, feeling demoralized, hard to concentrate on work, decreased productivity and problem solving tasks at work, not meeting deadlines, always asking for days off and feeling drained by minor tasks. One may feel frustrated, feel like giving up and not trying anymore.

Workplace depression may be caused by among other things:

Getting a job that you are not passionate about and are just doing it to make ends meet.
Being harassed, bullied or maltreated at the workplace.
Over working oneself and not taking enough time off or not having a social life outside the workplace.
Working in an environment that needs too much social engagement or not enough social engagement.
Being unable to make ends meet despite your pay.
Extreme pressure or been over worked by your employer
Lack of clear guidance of tasks to do at your workplace
Poor working conditions such as no promotions, lack of growth, not enough breaks, overtimes without over pay.
There are things that you can do to manage your situation if you find that you have workplace depression including:
Improve your diet; avoid saturated fats, coffee, high sugars which may make you feel weighed down, anxious or depressed and increase water, green tea, vegetables and fresh fruits which are high in anti-oxidants.
Meditate to improve your mind’s focus and help it to get to its best potential. Just do slow deep breaths and this will help calm your mind.
Talk to relevant authorities at your workplace, ask for a few days off where you should schedule an appointment with a doctor. At health.drameet.com Dr. Ameet goes into detail on how to cope with depression and you can also book sessions with him that will help you identify the problem and get the appropriate treatment.
Don’t sit at your desk the whole day, take time to go out for a walk or breathe in some fresh air this will help to clear and rejuvenate your mind.
Since you spend most time at your work desk, personalize your work space to make it feel as homely or comfortable as possible, you can add a plant or nice images which can uplift your mood and boost your morale.
Set clear goals at work, and create lists to help you tackle jobs faster. Don’t worry over a task that you have problems solving, instead move on to the next task and come back to the problematic one later, or ask for help from colleagues.
Revaluate your work and the reasons you are choosing to remain working there, take ownership of your decisions and decide if it is worth staying at the job or leaving.

However if after doing all this and you feel that you are not getting better, then it is time to address the situation more seriously. Take caution because depression can lead to a mental breakdown and it is life threatening.

It’s also important that employers value their employees’ mental health.

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Dr. Ameet Aggarwal ND is a naturopathic doctor and psychotherapist (Gestalt, Family Constellations, EMDR) with years of experience treating physical issues, anxiety, stress and depression, including working with UNICEF, UN Staff and other large organizations. His online course on using the 5 pillars of health, (free videos on health.drameet.com), lecturing around the world and being voted top 5 speaker on 2 world summits has earned him the recognition of top 43 naturopaths to follow. His book “Feel Good” (free videos on https://health.drameet.com/p/mindbodybook is considered to be one of the most comprehensive guides to anxiety and depression.