Look Out for These Severe Depression Symptoms in the Workplace

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Apr 21, 2022

✨POV✨: Doing what you love and loving what you do? Not even close. You feel closer to the opposite.

Severe Depression (aka Major Depression) is that first domino that knocks out our day-to-day life, relationships, work, and motivation. It's not just feeling low or sad, but being affected so deeply that we're not able to function as well as we can.

Work is a major aspect of our lives, whether we are in school or are employed. It makes up one-third of our entire lives, if not more (which is tbh very common). Who we are is so often linked to what we do and how we do it (even though tbh it should not). So yeah, if you're not feeling it at work, something needs to change. And that change, my friend, is actually more under-understood than it is difficult or impossible to make.

Depression in the workplace has become very common over the years, especially peaking during the pandemic. And because work takes up such an important place in our lives, our mental health is very susceptible to our workload, nature of work, work environment, and performance. The risk factors (what causes depression) may be different for different people, but the signs can be common.

Red Flags in the Workplace 🚩

Aka severe depression symptoms we should keep an eye out for.

🧑🏻‍💼 Withdrawal from colleagues or peers

Thinking, ‘I feel no one understands my struggles at work’?

We are social beings who (generally) need human interaction every once in a while. So, having some form of a bond with our colleagues and peers becomes important for our mental health. It doesn't mean that we need to be BFFs or hang out often outside work, but it does mean that we can interact with them without discomfort.

When we choose to skip social events or opportunities at work, we are distancing ourselves from shared experiences (which can act as bonding moments). Or we find ourselves being robotic, subconsciously not having human needs like a break or lighthearted interactions - we work at the workplace, das it.

😩 Low motivation and productivity

Thinking, ‘I can’t find motivation to work’?

Even when our work is clearly cut out for us and we can't put in the hours, we are unproductive and are far from meeting our (true) potential. We may have brain fog, find it difficult to concentrate, or feel constantly fatigued. And had this been a one-day occurrence, it would totally be a no-problemo. But when everything is spilling over - you're missing deadline after deadline, presenting sub-par work, and yet, are not finding the motivation to pick the slack up - you know that it's more than just laziness or procrastination.

🆎 Frequent absences

Thinking, ‘I fear losing my job’?

When it becomes easier to be a no-show than work, not just today or tomorrow, but often enough to awaken concern in our colleagues, we can suspect that it is depression. It could be because of anything - feeling lost, unfulfilled, unappreciated, or shamed. We just want to take a day off and escape the pressures of work. But this soon becomes a pattern and makes it that much harder to be productive. We get stuck in a loop and fear losing our job.

😰 Feeling overwhelmed, irritable, stressed or anxious

Thinking, ‘I am feeling overwhelmed’ or ‘I see my anxiety taking hold of me’ or ‘My boss is stressing me out’?

All of these are emotions that can drain our energy reserves, leaving none to be used for work. These feelings may arise for any number of reasons, but when they start to take a stronghold of control over our lives, is when we should be alerted. It may even become common to have crying spells more often than before, just because of how you feel at work.

Is it possible to treat depression? 🩹

The simple answer? Heaven yeah.

A person's depression symptoms may be the tip of an iceberg, but we now know where to dive deeper.

Depression is a scary monster, but there isn't much that the monster can do once we know how it plays us. We take it one day and one emotion at a time. When you feel stuck with a feeling and don’t know what to do, click on the feeling and try a mini-therapy to find your ground again.

To know about more ways to feel better at work, click here.

Note on Mental Disorders🚩

Depression (aka clinical depression, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is a mental illness that can be of two different types - mild depression (aka persistent depressive disorder) and major depression (aka severe depression or major depressive disorder). Common symptoms of depression include prolonged depressed mood, low self-esteem, mood swings, loss of interest, and having trouble focusing. If you have symptoms of severe depression (medically reviewed and diagnosed by licensed mental health professionals) or thoughts of self-harm, please use the national suicide prevention lifeline or contact a mental health professional to seek treatment options.

It is also common for other mood disorders like bipolar disorder or premenstrual dysphoric disorder to occur alongside clinical depression. Antidepressant medications may be prescribed in the case of severe symptoms, in combination with a form of therapy such as interpersonal therapy or brain stimulation therapy.