Workplace has changed today. In the past it still had an element of leisure over which the ethics of a work culture was built. Today, it has become synonymous with out and out work. It can be a motivation if you are an energetic, bubbly 20 year old in a call center but more often than not, it brings a lot of stress; a study reveals that the maximum number of people visiting psychiatrists per year make the visit due to workplace stress.

Now we know how psychologists have often harped over the fact that anxiety leads to stress and at times, it can lead to depression. Well, the train of thought is clear. Up to a certain level, anxiety works as an alarm bell, once it crosses the rational level, it becomes stress. Severe stress can create withdrawal symptoms. This can manifest itself in the form of depression. Workplace depression is a very common thing. Well it has many traits. Many reasons and they are extremely harmful in the long run.

So are you a victim of workplace depression. Let’s check out.

Do you have constant backlogs?

Today, a worker is highly likely to end up with a lot of backlog. However smartly he tends to work, there are bosses who are bent on making life difficult. It’s not their fault; we have become peanut labor forces. It is truer if we are a part of outsourcing unit taking orders from an offshore head. With all the backlog and failing metabolism, an employee feels he/she is not worth the job. On the top of it, there is the fear of reprimand. There is the added fear of public insult and lastly the chances of becoming an object of ridicule. All these are depressing thoughts. A backlog can become a vicious trap and can lead to workplace depression. So our question is- do you constantly live with a backlog? If yes then you might be a victim of workplace depression.

Do you look out for frequent fagging?

Well, many might say that its stress at work but the urge to get away from the seat under the pretext of a smoke is a feeling that can be related to workplace depression.

Do you feel fatigued at work and your body feels extremely lethargic by the day-end?

Well fatigue can be possible by the day-end but if you feel it right from the outset, then take a trip to the psychologist, you might not be running down the depth of it but chances are that a workplace depression is setting in.

Do you seek absenteeism?

Well, workplace is challenging and the escape route is sitting at home. This makes people dodge work. They do not mind losing a part of the salary and prefer being off office especially on anticipated tough days. So if you look to bunk more and more, its time to get yourself checked.

Do you avoid office parties?

If you can’t love a workplace, you would never look to revel in it. So people suffering from workplace depression are more likely to avoid the office-gatherings and sit at home. This last thing may also lead to social phobia in very few cases.

Depression in women occurs twice as frequently as it occurs in men. Women are more vulnerable to various factors associated with depression. Be it the social factor, economic factors, or psychological factors. There are three major factors that can be associated with depression in women.

Genetic deficiency- if a mother has depression; there is a fair chance that a daughter would be susceptible towards the disease. Having said this, genetic disposition might change with proper execution of will power and giving right direction to the behavioral fluctuation. The aim is to practice moderation.

Hormonal fluctuation- Estrogen plays a great part in a women’s life. Its erratic production can cause behavioral imbalance in a women.

Life experiences- There are various events which can disturb a women’s mind. This may be in relation to certain traumatic experiences that a woman has undergone in the past. Moreover, certain things that happen to a woman in everyday life can also create stress, anxiety and associated withdrawal symptoms in a woman. These can be degenerative for the mind. A woman battles her way but then she is mentally more vulnerable to falling off.

Women showing features of depression show a common symptom of extreme fatigue. For them even a small task becomes highly difficult. They feel the need to completely stretch. This brings withdrawal symptoms in a greater degree as woman themselves break away from social chores.

Women suffering from depression feel as if they have no value to add to the family and society. This makes them myopic. Because they do not envisage a proper future for themselves, they end up being suicidal in certain cases.

Depression can be a real killer and in more senses than one. Look at it this way. It breaks a woman from all social norms. In absence of a proper social impetus, they end up being more and more alone. Social life, family relationship, parental duties; each thing suffers. In the event of feeling extremely weary and purposeless, a woman might just be looking into the depths of depression. Apart from these symptoms, there are the associated symptoms of appetite loss and insomnia. Tense gait and chest burn are also related to such disorder.

Women suffer more from seasonal depression. In winter months, sunlight falls less all across the globe. This results in higher rate of depression in women in the winter months. Sad light box therapy is artificial stimulation of light in the eye. This results in getting more and more of light which helps in proper functioning of hypothalamus.

Men show exactly opposite symptoms. They intend to overeat, oversleep and take greater indulgence in every possible chore.

Depression can be countered effectively in the initial stages. This requires medicines and psychological interference. This might even require a combination of both. Antidepressants are a great help in such times of depression. They must still be taken with proper advice from doctors. It is because such medicines can have withdrawal symptoms and associated side effects.

We live life on the fast lane. It does not let us sleep in peace. Workplace is a stressful place. There are various tensions pertaining to home as well. People are more or less mired in earthly stresses. This is why cases of anxiety are on an incessant rise these days. More and more people are complaining of anxiety of different types. Anxiety acts as a positive barometer, while it remains under a certain threshold point. In such cases they act as warning bells and suggest us of any problem that we might have. Anxiety that goes beyond the threshold level brings various kinds of stresses.

These stresses can occur as metabolic disorders. This might include insomnia, appetite loss, nervous tautness, tensed gait and erratic disposition. Mounting anxiety can completely misbalance an individual even causing nervous breakdown and complete loss of sleep.

If remained untreated, anxiety is also known to develop to depressive trends in many individuals. Such depression usually starts with withdrawal symptoms. A person goes deep inside a shell slowly and then all the attributes of balanced life ends. A person simply goes into a deep depression.

Anxiety can also evolve into certain weird traits. In fact the traits are surfacing so frequently of late that they are no more considered weird. Few such anxiety triggered symptoms are panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia and so on. In the first case a person begins to feel panic sensation under a given stimulus. In the second case a general anxiety begins to build up. This might have a sound base but at times, this may also be unfounded. Social phobias relate to steady loss of self-esteem. In such cases, a patient believes that he is most vulnerable to be humiliated in social gatherings as he would make quite many mistakes.

All these end in withdrawal symptoms. Such symptoms cause a lot of mental, physical and emotional trauma and largely end in depression. Cognitive behavior therapy is a great answer to such anxiety triggered disorders. They preach about the worse case scenario. As the patient understands what worse might happen to him, he slowly gets released from the fear. Let’s understand, the problem is not about fear. It is about fear of fear.

There are also lines of therapies which deal with mimicking the panic situation in a safe and secure clinical environment. When a patient understands his body mechanism in a safe environment, he slowly comes out of the grip of the fear in real panic environments.

Anxiety leading to depression is curable. There are various cognitive, psychological and psychiatric remedies. It is generally believed that anti-depressants are not necessarily the best line of remedy. They cause numbness in the brain and also have poor side effects and withdrawal symptoms. Despite the problem, they are still administered to people frequently for relieving them from the depths of depression. Psychological healing is also a very important facet of treating depression. While anxiety is still in its early phase, it can be rooted out by clinical analysis of problems that bring it. It can also be taken care of through natural therapies like yoga and meditation.