Do you feel this way at work? Although I am busy and have done a lot, it is difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment; I feel like I am repeating yesterday’s life every day when I go to work, and I can’t find anything interesting; I feel depressed when I think about going to work, even though I haven’t done much, but Feeling exhausted every day…
Such a state of physical and mental exhaustion can sometimes be improved after adequate rest. If you have been in this state at work for a long time, you should be wary of work-related depression.
What is work-related depression?
In modern society, work can be said to be the most important part of modern people. Workplace involution, overtime culture, KPI, performance appraisal, upward management…
Work gradually takes up all of our time and energy. We devote a lot to our work, but we increasingly find it difficult to find meaning in our work.
When work becomes the master and “I” is nowhere to be seen, work-related depression will come uninvited.
9 symptoms of work-related depression:
Energy is exhausted
When working, it is like a clockwork robot, constantly turning and busy, but once the weekend comes, it seems that the battery has been exhausted during work, and the body feels hollowed out, exhausted, tired, and does not want to do anything.
Loss of interest
- I obviously feel that I have lost interest in most things. Things that used to recharge my blood are now difficult to make me feel relaxed, I have lost my enthusiasm, and I can’t get excited about anything I do.
Decreased concentration
- Inability to concentrate or focus on work tasks, and poor memory, especially for new information.
Appetite changes
- Sometimes I overeat due to stress and anxiety, eating a lot of high-calorie, high-sugar foods. Sometimes I lose my appetite and can go without eating for a whole day. Irregular eating habits and sudden weight gain or loss.
Habitual procrastination
- Without initiative and motivation, whether it is work or life, things will always be delayed until the last minute.
Emotionally unstable and irritable
- I will cry for no reason, and I will also get angry over trivial things. Emotions become unstable and sensitive, and it is easy to regard some daily conversations or behaviors as being in opposition to oneself, falling into rumination, thinking over and over again, and becoming dissatisfied with various relationships.
Social avoidance
- Unwilling to communicate with others or participate in any social activities, preferring to stay at home alone or away from people. Feeling tired in social situations, bored, or uncomfortable with other people’s interactions.
Feeling unwell
- Have sleep problems, insomnia or drowsiness. The body often feels inexplicable soreness, such as shoulders, neck, waist, back and other parts. Gastrointestinal discomfort may also occur, such as neurogenic gastritis, stomach pain, indigestion, diarrhea, etc.
Feeling visibly anxious
- Anxiety levels increase significantly, especially when under stress or when you are interrupted by unexpected work news at the end of the day. Become nervous easily at work and always feel overwhelmed by work matters.
- In a state of work-induced depression, individuals will quickly lose enthusiasm and creativity for work, suffer from work burnout, reduce work efficiency, and people’s mental health is also easily damaged.
Why does work make people depressed?
“Toxic” work environment
- Work has become an important part of modern people’s lives, and the “toxic” factors in the work environment have also greatly affected the physical and mental health of employees.
- Research from an Australian university shows that a toxic work environment increases an employee’s risk of depression by 300%.
- Research points out that a work environment that does not pay attention to employees’ mental health, does not reward employees for their work, and places unreasonable demands on employees will increase employees’ risk of depression by 300%. Men are more likely to suffer from severe depressive symptoms than women.
- In addition to the factors mentioned above, workplace bullying is also a form of toxic work environment. People who suffer from workplace bullying are also more likely to suffer from depression.
- Workplace bullying affects not only the person being bullied but also co-workers who witness the bullying.
“Bullshit job”
The concept of “bullshit job” comes from the book “Bullshit Job” by anthropologist David Graeber, which refers to meaningless and worthless work.
Graeber clearly identifies three characteristics of “bullshit jobs” in his book:
- First, workers themselves cannot explain or even deny the meaning of work;
- Second, despite this, workers still have to pretend that their work is meaningful by pretending to be “busy”;
- Third, the above-mentioned status occurs on the basis of employment relationship.
He also classified bullshit jobs into the following five categories:
- Flattery type: Mainly serves as a follower of the superior, making the superior feel important, such as various assistants
- Thug type: hurting or deceiving others on behalf of the employer, such as lobbying groups, corporate lawyers, telemarketing;
- Patch type: For example, programmers patch inferior code, and customer service staff are responsible for after-sales;
- Quotation model: specializes in writing written documents and making reports such as performance analysts and internal company publicists;
- Taskmaster type: unnecessary superiors, represented by various middle managers, whose main task is to assign tasks to others, and even actively create all kinds of bullshit jobs.
Not only do bullshit jobs produce no value, but the people who do them are treated as parts that need to be run, rather than as human beings.
Work is completely divorced from its original meaning, from allowing us to find or realize some of our ideals, wishes, or meanings in life, to a meaningless movement that keeps spinning, spinning faster and faster.
People living in it feel more and more hollow and meaningless. Burnout and emptiness erode the body and mind, and they increasingly feel that they have become an empty shells just for work.
The loss of the sense of subjectivity brings endless depression, depression and self-doubt.
How to improve work-related depression?
Good development can only occur in a good physical and mental state. Career development is not only related to your professional skills but also to your physical and mental health.
If you find that you are physically and mentally damaged at a job and have obvious symptoms of depression, then it may be time for you to do something.
Take action to improve the environment
- If you find that your depression is related to recent changes in your work environment, taking active steps to make positive changes can help you a lot.
- If your supervisor or superior is supportive, try communicating with them about your ideas. Sometimes a simple change can help.
- If you find that the working environment is difficult to change, then you can avoid getting yourself into a worse situation by leaving the stressor and stopping the loss in time.
Learn some relaxation techniques
- Regular relaxation at work can help reduce negative work-related effects. Yoga, deep breathing relaxation, mindfulness meditation, etc. are all effective methods.
- Or even simpler, try to do something that has nothing to do with work, such as listening to music, watching some funny and relaxing videos, gathering with friends, or even going for a walk in a nearby park to empty your head…
- In short, you should make some time and space for yourself, leave work behind, let yourself relax, and do something pleasurable. Keeping an appropriate distance from work and the stress it brings can also help us maintain good physical and mental health.
Enjoy life outside of work
- With work group messages still exploding after get off work, the boundaries between work and life have become increasingly blurred, and the stress and anxiety caused by work are slowly spreading to other aspects of life.
- So, creating clear boundaries between your work and personal life can go a long way in alleviating your symptoms of depression.
- Life outside of work will become another fulcrum of our lives, preventing us from being “kidnapped” by work and making work the single focus of our lives.
Seek professional help and treatment
- When the symptoms of depression are too severe and you are still unable to improve despite trying a variety of methods, the help and treatment of a professional psychological counselor becomes even more important.
- A psychological counselor can help you identify the causes of depression at work and work with you to develop scientific solutions. Suitable and effective treatment plans and provide you with professional guidance.
- Pérez et al. pointed out in the “Guidelines for Effective Psychotherapy” that there are five recognized (effective) treatments for depression: psychodynamic therapy, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, interpersonal therapy, and medication.
Conclusion
When you are in a depressed state, you may feel powerless, overwhelmed, and seemingly unable to get better. But please believe that work-related depression is a psychological problem that can be overcome and improved.
I hope you can get rid of work-related depression, regain the fun and motivation of work, and enjoy the balance and happiness between work and life.