Dealing with Depression at Work 

Many people deal with depression and unfortunately, it gets in the way of many daily activities. While at work, you may wonder how you can address your depression and keep it from affecting your performance. There are several things you can do to improve your experience. 

Acknowledge Your Depression 

The first thing you should do is acknowledge your depression. You need to recognize that it’s there and you need to acknowledge the severity of it. If you ignore your depression or push it to the side, then it can only make your symptoms worse. Acknowledging your depression can be done in different ways. To start off, you can simply acknowledge it on your own. Recognize its symptoms and how it’s affecting your work. You can also bring it up to other people. These people might include your boss or supervisor, trusted coworkers, or anyone else who can help you. When you talk about your depression with others, it can allow them to be more understanding when your depression impacts your performance and they can provide you with support. 

Seek Help 

When you’re dealing with any kind of physical ailment, you seek medical attention. The same should go for mental illness as well. If you want to get relief from your depression, then you should seek help from a professional. You might start off by seeing a doctor and being prescribed antidepressants. Talking with a therapist may also benefit you. In fact, your job may even allow you better access to professional help. Talk with your boss and see if there is any help available through your job that can be offered at a discount. 

Schedule Time Away 

Mental illness is experienced differently by everyone, but one common method for finding relief is giving yourself a break. When possible, you should schedule time away from work and the stress it comes with. Your time away can be a week-long vacation or even just a weekend away. If you aren’t able to take time off, then you can simply be more intentional with your time outside of work. You can be sure to set aside time each day where you don’t think about work or you can designate a day on the weekend where you will do something fun that you love. Additionally, you can make sure you get plenty of small breaks throughout the day to give you relief. 

 

Your depression doesn’t need to hold you back in your career. There are lots of ways you can still work well even when depressive symptoms pop up. Begin trying different methods to help you deal with your depression while working. 

While depression affects people differently, there is still a lot that most people experience. Click here to learn more about depression.