Stefan P
03-11-07, 12:26
Hi all,
I thought I would share this little story about what happened to me a couple of weeks ago to encourage anyone that is perhaps afraid that their disorder is making their job vulnerable.
A couple of weeks ago, the anxiety disorder turned into panic attacks for the first time and I was terrified. It was a really scary time and I felt like the anxiety (which I have known is there for a few years now) was finally going to finish me off. I took a week off work to recover and kept in touch with my manager - just telling him I wasn't right and not really explaining why. He was pretty understanding so on the Friday I emailed him a full description of what was going on (anxiety, depression, and panic attacks).
Well when I returned to work on the following monday. I got a call from the managing director. He's one of those MDs that walks around looking menaceing and doesn't have much contact with his employees. He's a nice enough guy just a bit aloof. So you can imagine how I felt when I had to go to his office - enough to trigger panic right there! He said that my manager had showed him the email, and my heart sank thinking "here it comes". He stunned me by asking me to sit down and going on to explain that he has suffered from exactly the same thing for years and that he understood exactly what I was going through!
Since then we've talked a couple of times, and he has very kindly offered to pay for three or four sessions with a psychotherapist (first one on Monday!) to get me some help. He's reassured me that my job is not in any danger at all, and that his priority is that I get the help I need to get my life back on track.
I was really pleasantly surprised. I would never have dreamed in a million years that I could go to him and have a discussion about my problems - and here I am getting some therapy on company expense!
Hopefully this might encourage anyone who is feeling they cannot approach their employer about their disorder - you never know, you may be lucky enough to have an MD like mine :)
I thought I would share this little story about what happened to me a couple of weeks ago to encourage anyone that is perhaps afraid that their disorder is making their job vulnerable.
A couple of weeks ago, the anxiety disorder turned into panic attacks for the first time and I was terrified. It was a really scary time and I felt like the anxiety (which I have known is there for a few years now) was finally going to finish me off. I took a week off work to recover and kept in touch with my manager - just telling him I wasn't right and not really explaining why. He was pretty understanding so on the Friday I emailed him a full description of what was going on (anxiety, depression, and panic attacks).
Well when I returned to work on the following monday. I got a call from the managing director. He's one of those MDs that walks around looking menaceing and doesn't have much contact with his employees. He's a nice enough guy just a bit aloof. So you can imagine how I felt when I had to go to his office - enough to trigger panic right there! He said that my manager had showed him the email, and my heart sank thinking "here it comes". He stunned me by asking me to sit down and going on to explain that he has suffered from exactly the same thing for years and that he understood exactly what I was going through!
Since then we've talked a couple of times, and he has very kindly offered to pay for three or four sessions with a psychotherapist (first one on Monday!) to get me some help. He's reassured me that my job is not in any danger at all, and that his priority is that I get the help I need to get my life back on track.
I was really pleasantly surprised. I would never have dreamed in a million years that I could go to him and have a discussion about my problems - and here I am getting some therapy on company expense!
Hopefully this might encourage anyone who is feeling they cannot approach their employer about their disorder - you never know, you may be lucky enough to have an MD like mine :)