Depression in the Workplace

I'm not a psychologist or psychotherapist.  I don't claim to be one.  I'm just a guy seeking to gain a rational perspective on business ethics using the Book of Proverbs as my guide.  As the title of today's blog indicates, I am going to take a closer look at depression and how it relates to and can sometimes conflict with sound moral principles or ethical behaviors not only at work, but in our homes with the people we love and even our personal lives.

Consider some of these statistics on Depression gleaned from the National Institutes of Health, the Depression Statistics website, the Uplift Program website and the Psychology Today website.

• Approximately 22% of the U.S. population suffers from some form of depression at any given time.  Of that number 26% are female, and 12 % are male.  The reason some think that the number for men is lower is because of their tendency to try and hide it more.  Almost every person will experience depression at some point in their lives.
• Depression unresolved/untreated can lead to major depressive disorders, also known as clinical depression.  This type of depression now affects 10% of the U.S. population.  Major or clinical depression is a disorder, not a disease. That means that - as understood at present - it has symptoms of disrupted functionality, rather than physical signs, like a rash or a bruise. Major depression is diagnosed when someone has at least five symptoms of depression lasting at least two weeks. These symptoms include:

1. Changes to one’s emotions, including pervasive sadness and generally depressed mood
2. Changes to one’s view of the future, including pessimism and hopelessness
3. Changes to one’s normal habits, including loss of appetite and insomnia, as well as withdrawal from normal activities and/or a loss of pleasure in them
4. Changes to one’s self-image, including feelings of helplessness, guilt, worthlessness, and/or self-hatred
5. Feeling fatigued or like one has no energy
6. Possible increases in sensitivity including agitation, irritability, and restlessness
7. Changes to one’s mental state, including mental confusion, sluggishness, and difficulty making decisions
8. Thoughts of suicide and/or suicide attempts

• Clinical depression has become one of America's most costly illnesses. Left untreated, depression is as costly as heart disease or AIDS to the US economy, costing over $51 billion in absenteeism from work and lost productivity and $26 billion in direct treatment costs. Depression tends to affect people in their prime working years and may last a lifetime if untreated.
• Depression will be the second largest killer of Americans after heart disease by 2020, while studies now show depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease already.
• 80% of people who see the Doctor are depressed.  Studies are increasingly linking more illnesses to depression, including: osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, eye disease and back pain.

I will stop here with the numbers, but they should be alarming to anyone.  If anyone reading this can identify with many of the symptoms of major depression outlined above, please seek professional help, now.

How does all this relate to business ethics?

Look again at the point about depression's cost to businesses for absenteeism and lost productivity.  Lost productivity accounts for most of that amount, and refers not just to absenteeism, but something called presenteeism.  This is a term for people with depression that show up for work but are not functioning anywhere close to full capacity.  They fail to return phone calls, they produce poor-quality work, they miss deadlines, they are not following up with customers, they are paralyzed with indecision, they start coming in late and/or leaving early, they begin having difficulty getting along with co-workers and are withdrawing from the social environment at work.

Please refer back to the blog on "The Ethics of Work" if you still can't see the connection between the effects of depression on ethical principles.   When you start functioning like the patterns described above, if left unchecked and unresolved, you may also start making very compromising and destructive choices in your relationship with your spouse, your children, and your co-workers.  Left unresolved, you may start abusing drugs, alcohol, sex or gambling.  Depression unresolved will eventually lead you on a downward spiral that will destroy your integrity and character, which in turn will cause even more depression.  It's a vicious cycle.

Consider these verses from Proverbs.

Proverbs 12:25, "Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad."

Proverbs 15:13, "A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken."

Proverbs 17:22, "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones."

Notice the depression symptoms outlined in these verses:

•  Anxiety
•  Sorrow
•  Brokenness

Do you see the downward progression?  It starts with anxiety.  We can become anxious and have anxiety over so many things.  We worry about job security, finances, retirement.  You name it; most of us will figure out a way to worry about it.  We have anxiety over relationships, our children, our in-laws, our neighbors, our boss, our employees, and even our relationship with God.  That anxiety will cause depression.

Next is sorrow, or sorrow of the heart, which is a by-product or attribute that comes with depression.  Depressed people are usually very sad.  They may cry a lot.  They have no joy.  When depression leads to sorrow, self-abuse will follow.  You can abuse not only alcohol and prescription or illegal drugs, but also food can become an addition.  Sex can become an addition through illicit hetero or homosexual affairs or even pornography.  None of these things will ever really help a sorrowful heart.  They usually lead to the last word these verses use to describe depression, which is brokenness.

Brokenness, or broken spirit, follows sorrow.  This level of depression is when depression has entered the danger zone.  At this stage, when you feel totally defeated, lost, worthless, destroyed, don't wait another moment, get help.

Do you see yourself at one of these stages, right now?  If you do, I wish I could tell you there was an instantaneous cure, a magical pill, but there isn't one.  What, you say?  Can't God give that instantaneous cure?  He can, and I personally believe that He wants too for anyone going through depression.  The problem is not with God, but with the level of our own depression, receptiveness, understanding or even faith.  It would be disingenuous of me to close by telling you just to Trust God, or just believe, and it will all be okay.  Charlatans that propagate that can easily make depressed people even more depressed.

My hope for anyone who may be at one of these stages of depression is that you will find a path, a roadmap, a plan that can lead you to brighter, healthier and happier days.  I believe this can help, but it may take time, so hang in there.

Proverbs 16:20, "He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he."

1. Cultivate good healthy relationships with spouses, co-workers or solid social networks.  Find associations at work that will give "a good word", stimulating, encouraging and uplifting conversations that make the heart glad.  See Prov. 12:25 above.
2. With the help of a physician, therapist, support group or religious counselor, find out what is causing your depression and deal with the sources of anxiety that caused it.  
3. Cultivate a proper balance of diet and exercise.  Nothing clears cluttered minds like a little exercise and a good nutritional diet.
4. Develop spiritual beliefs that include prayer, meditation, and fellowship with likeminded people who also have a strong belief in the value of serving their fellow man.  Our last verse says that "whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he."   This will give your life purpose.  Purpose will give you greater joy, and that new found joy will result in a merry heart that "does good, like a medicine."