Depression

Depression is a term that can refer to a wide variety of abnormal variations in an individual’s mood..
Thoughts about:
The self (i.e., self is worthless)
The world/environment (i.e., world is unfair), and
The future (i.e., future is hopeless).

Depression Signs and Symptoms

List of symptoms include:

-Unrelenting sad, anxious or “empty” mood
-Sleeping too little, early morning awakening or sleeping too much
-Reduced appetite and/or weight loss, or increased appetite and weight gain
-Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, including sex
-Edginess and/or irritability
-Unyielding physical symptoms that don’t respond to treatment (headaches, chronic pain or digestive disorders)
-Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
-Fatigue or loss of energy
-Feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
-Thoughts of suicide or death

Customary advice is to see your doctor if you experience five or more of these symptoms. Eighty percent of depressed people can be successfully treated and returned fully productive to their jobs. Depression is a chronic, progressive disease with many remissions. Without treatment, it will strike again and again, with a vengeance more powerful each time.

Depression ranks third in the hierarchy of workplace problems.
It is overshadowed only by family crisis and stress. No two employees experience depression in the same way. Symptoms vary in severity and duration in different people. In the workplace, symptoms of depression may include the following.

-Decreased productivity
-Morale problems
-Lack of cooperation
-Safety risks and/or accidents
-Absenteeism
-Assertions about always being tired
-Complaints of unexplained aches and pains
-Alcohol and drug abuse

Many depressed workers suffer unnecessarily because they feel embarrassed, fear of being identified as feeble or do not recognize depression as a treatable illness. Effective protocols for depression include medication, psychotherapy or a combination of both. These treatments usually begin to relieve symptoms in a matter of weeks.