Does your job contribute to your anxiety and depression?

[PoppyC]

Hi all ! :)
I was wondering what jobs we all have or had and whether the job contributed towards our anxiety and depression?
How many of us had to give up our jobs due to anxiety and depression?
I am not being nosey - just curious, as I have been reading how a lot of anxiety problems are related these days to the stress of our jobs more than anything else.

[jacks 6]

Hi poppy
im a nurse in a critical care unit and find my job does contribute to my anxiety, but have to get on with it, very hard at times though.
jackie

[Allye]

Hi Poppy

Mine was a combination. My previous job was stressful. We had a team of three, then one left and one went on maternity leave leaving me. The management took 9 months (yes you did read that right) to find replacements, but I was expected to do the job of three people (which meant working 12 hour days, often 6 days a week to very tight deadlines and targets). On top of that I had chronic anaemia (although I did not know this until afterwards).

On day I was sitting in a board meeting at 3 pm and suddenly I had a panic attack out of no where (probably due to the fact I had been in since 7 am, was fuelled up on coffee and had not eaten at all).

It all went downhill from there

[vickykelly]

hi popy i run an account team of 13 people and its really stressful and i panic at work to, so been off for a couple of days its awful....what the hell is going on?

[PoppyC]

Hi everyone!
Thanks for your replies. :)
I read some article about how people are getting 'burnt out' in the workplace due to stress.
You all sound like you have good jobs but I imagine from your posts they must be very stressful.
Since having a breakdown I can no longer deal with stress at all. I try but its very difficult and so I know when I get back out there to work (I work from home at the moment) that I am going to have to apply for jobs that are not particularly stressful.
I never imagined just how physically ill stress can make us. I knew I was really stressed out but thought I could keep on coping and eventually I just became very physically unwell. I thought I had a mystery illness!!! I just would not accept it was down to anxiety. My kidneys were affected by the stress.
Its such a shame our lives are so full of stress these days be caused by our jobs, the recession or just how society is now :lac:

[Plumpetals]

Parts of my job definitely contributed to my anxiety, though they weren’t always related to work itself. I’m a teacher. Last year I was in charge of organizing the 3 main courses that our department offers. I would spend hours and hours obsessing over details, wanting things to be just right so that nobody would have a problem following through with the course – that of course took up time outside the office, which then left me less time to fulfill other obligations, which stressed me out … and the cycle went on and on. After realizing that somebody would always complain about a part of the course and there was no way I could please everybody, I finally quit the role of administrator. The stress wasn’t worth the added note on my CV. I feel much better now. Though I’m still busy, I know that I am in control of my situation – not having to worry about what all the other teachers in the department were thinking of me or how they were criticizing my work was a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. Things aren’t perfect, but they’re much better.

(Whew! Didn’t mean to write that much – guess it has been on my mind and this was my chance to vent a little! J)

[cheeringup]

Hi Poppy

I agree...jobs do contribute to our anxieties and stress levels.

Me personally I work in the NHS and Im a manager but thats not the problem - the problem with me is that I care about patients and give my all...but sometimes I just give too much and I find that Im drained at the end of the day and forget to give myself me time. I fix others lives but dont pay enough attention to mine and voila...here I am anxiety and all!

R x

[krog]

Hi,

My job is probably the biggest contributer to my anxiety/panic problem.

Its very difficult to accept because if I had a choice I would go and do something else. Fortunately for me my job is well paid but hence very difficult to leave and find something similar.

One of the things we often say at work is 'if all jobs paid the same, would you be doing this one'. The answer is always a resounding NO.

Cheers
krog

[Coni]

I work in the NHS and it definitely adds to my problems...If I could change jobs I would, but anxiety/depression saps confidence and now I dont have the nerve to try anything else even though I think Im rubbish at what I do.

Coni X

[nickieb]

Im a nurse & work in medicine & yes mine does xx

[artyemma]

Wow a lot of NHS folk, I use to work as an Occupational therapist and thats when a lot of my anxiety started. Its hard though im not working at the moment and Im in the process of trying to work out what I want to do. I want a less stressful job but then I think well maybe shouldnt I just learn to handle stress better?

[PoppyC]

I noticed that too - that there are a lot of NHS staff! Hardly surprising is it though. I dont think I would now be able to have a job which involved a lot of stress. I would end up having panic attacks I know! I used to want to be a nurse but I would have ended up panicking the patients I am sure with my anxiety - I am hardly the calmest person to have around in an emergency!:wacko: I get too emotionally involved too and I know I would be sobbing more the relatives! :weep:
I admire people work in such professions and especially those who have to deal with anxiety themselves too whilst working in them. It must be very difficult sometimes...:flowers:

[happyone]

I worked for social work dept with people with a learning difficulty, some of whom had extremely challenging behaviour. I used to do this job really well. After getting unwell, my ability to deal with challenging behaviour and internal politics of the workplace diminished. I kept on going off sick, returning, going off sick, returning....until july 08 since I have been off continuously. I have now been declared unfit to return. However, while they are willing to give me another job, I cannot get myself fit enough for anything.:mad:

Happyone
x

[honeybee3939]

Hi

I used to work in a care home i loved the job and the elderly people:hugs: but i used to find when i got home i couldnt stop thinking of them and it made my anxiety worse. I now work in a office doing accounts and clerical work, i find this less stressful i just do the job come home and forget about it.:)

I really would love to work in elderly care again one day, i found the job so rewarding but the anxiety just got the better of me:weep: .

Love
:hugs:
Andrea
xxxx

[PoppyC]

Thats how I would be! I would love to work with elderly people - generally in my experience a lot of older people seem so calm and accepting about things dont they - either that or its the effect of their sedatives!
I am hoping as I get old my anxiety and problems decrease. I dont want to get old but if it means being a bit calmer than I will be happy! I want to be that little old lady in her rocking chair knitting and not stressing!!!
I get very attached emotionally and I am sure I would lie awake all night worrying about others if I worked in social services or as a nurse or carer. :weep: