Mental Wellbeing Network

Depression and Anxiety in the workplace

Megan Carroll

There are many people who have to endure depression and anxiety within their workplace, however there are ways to manage it better and make sure that you are taking care of yourself. Managing depression and anxiety in work can be very difficult, especially if you are working in a toxic environment. The most important thing is that you put yourself first. Take time off when you need to. If you have an understanding manager you could speak to them and ask for a bit of support.

In my experience, my manager was not understanding and supportive. I was constantly bullied and was expected to be all about the job. I was manipulated into feeling like I was being dramatic when really I was struggling with my mental health. Although, not all workplaces are like this, but these are the ones that can make it more challenging for you to cope.

What is depression and anxiety at work?

Depression at work is similar to the general depressive symptoms. But workplace depression will be more specific to a work setting and will affect your personal life as well as professional. Depression could also increase your anxiety levels.

Workplace anxiety involves feeling stressed when it comes to dealing with stressful encounters, this could be with co-workers, customers or job performance. Workplace anxiety could make you fear going to work and often feel upset with having to deal with workplace stress. This type of anxiety happens whilst at work or even thinking about going into work.

Symptoms of workplace depression:

Symptoms of workplace anxiety

How can I deal with workplace depression and anxiety?

Speak with your manager. All workplaces should have a support system able to help people who are struggling at work. Create time for yourself, make sure you are taking care of yourself first and foremost. You can also practice mindful meditation. Meditation is a great way to really connect with yourself and calm your thoughts. There are many impressive videos you could watch on Youtube to get you started.

Take a mental health day. If things get too much, speak with your manager about having a mental health day. If you are in full time employment you can take 10 days off sick for mental health a year. You may struggle to take time off if you feel guilty and just want to show up for work, but at the end of the day your personal and mental health should always be top priority.

If your job continues to increase your levels of depression and anxiety you could always see about moving department/location or finding a more healthy workplace.

Risk factors for workplace depression and anxiety

There are many risk factors that could escalate your depression and anxiety that could include:

If you’re concerned about your mental health within work and speaking with your manager doesn’t help, you can reach out to your Human Resources team and they can help you find a counselor or deal with any issues that may be causing the upset. If you are not ready to reach out to work you can always make an appointment with your local GP or mental health professionalist.

Can workplace depression and anxiety affect my personal life?

Although we call it workplace depression and anxiety, this definitely can affect your personal life including relationships, friendships and general life. If this happens the best thing to do is speak to your loved ones and let them know what’s been going on with you. The worst thing is letting a workplace affect your life. My last job badly affected my personal life to the point I had to quit. No job is worth your own health and safety.

I was pushing people away and trying to deal with my issues on my own which only escalated the problem. I took a sick note from the doctors for 3 months because I never had any support from my job/managers and I became really depressed and my anxiety had flown through the roof. I’ve stopped doing things I loved, going out with friends and spending time with family all because of a toxic workplace that made me feel so bad that it affected my everyday life. It took me a long time to deal with and if I had spoken with my loved ones it would of made me feel a whole lot better rather than shutting everyone out.

How can I stop workplace depression and anxiety from affecting my personal life?

Sometimes it’s not so easy to leave work at work and it can really affect not only yourself but also people around you. There are many ways of dealing with workplace depression and anxiety in the workplace such as:

Noticing the signs as an employer/employees

At times it can be hard to spot the signs in your colleagues and staffs mental state and well being. It can be hard for the people going through depression and anxiety to have the courage to speak to their colleagues and management as the stigma around mental health is outdated and looked at as a joke. There’s a lot of people that truly believe that mental health is an excuse to bunk off, when really it is a serious mental disorder that can’t be helped. As a manager you should be looking after your staff and ensuring that they have a comfortable and safe workplace.

There are many ways that you can look out for colleagues struggling such as not being able to fulfill tasks to the same potential that they once did, being easily irritable, lack of time management i.e. lateness, excessive time off. As humans the best thing to do is reach out if you feel someone is struggling and work together to try and make their job easier and less stressful. All workplaces should have some sort of positive reinforcement to encourage employees to speak up and get help for their mental health within the workplace.

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