{"id":2577,"date":"2026-05-18T01:44:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/?p=2577"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:44:54","slug":"getting-back-to-work-when-youve-been-depressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/?p=2577","title":{"rendered":"Getting Back to Work When You\u2019ve Been Depressed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.\u00a0 \u2022\u00a0 Psych Central www.psychcentral.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m still too depressed to find a job,\u201d says one young man. \u201cI lost my car when I was so depressed so how can I even look?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a young woman: \u201cI don\u2019t have the energy for a full-time job and I don\u2019t feel ready to be around people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And from a middle-aged guy: \u201cwho wants a 50 year old who\u2019s been in the hospital?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After months of treatment for acute depression, these people are feeling better. They are taking better care of themselves. Their sleep is good. Their medications are working. Therapy has helped them be more successful at using their coping skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treatment now needs to shift from stabilization to getting back into the world and back to work. Easier said than done. They are finding the move from having good intentions to actually getting back out there so daunting they are stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, these people genuinely want to get back to work, but their self-esteem has taken such a hit, they are convinced they will fail. To avoid failure, they find reasons not to try, all of which have a kernel of truth. But not trying \u2013 not doing the personal work to manage their fears and overcome practical obstacles \u2013 guarantees not getting anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have ever been there, you can relate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, acute distress often sets in motion a habit of discouragement and passivity. Being genuinely unable for a time can convince people that there\u2019s something so fundamentally wrong with them that they are, at their core, deficient. The habit of negative self-talk that is a common symptom of depression hangs on and on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can someone shake the feeling that he or she is fundamentally flawed? How can a person push back at depressive thinking and reclaim the self-confidence required to be a working adult? If you are in recovery and feeling stuck, here are a few thoughts drawn from the field of motivational psychology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s up to you: <\/strong>Step one is to accept that, once out of the acute stage of depression, you need to make a renewed commitment to break the habit of inactivity that came with it. Resist the very understandable pull to go back under the covers with the shades drawn. Your therapist can help you figure out how to set reasonable goals and pace yourself for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use your supports: <\/strong>Feeling better doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t need your medication. Talk to your prescriber if you want to reduce or discontinue it. Keep going to therapy. Your therapist can continue to provide encouragement and practical guidance while you figure out how to get back to work. Ask friends and family to lend support. Those who care about you do want to help but they may need guidance about what exactly you would find helpful. Set reasonable expectations together: You aren\u2019t completely well but you are getting there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do something: <\/strong>The point is to make a start. You may not be ready for a full-on press for employment but you can certainly start to do more to contribute. Do more around the house. Volunteer for a few hours a week. Take a part-time job. Positive actions do build on each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be willing to start small \u2013 even at the bottom: <\/strong>It can be really tough to start over. It can feel like a devaluing of your skills and be a blow to your self-esteem. But after being out of the workforce for a time, it may reduce your anxiety to take a job with less status or salary than you once had. Alternatively, think about going back half time if you can as a way to begin. Starting is exactly that \u2014 starting. It can give you a needed chance to prove yourself to yourself. If you are returning to a former job, going part-time or taking a step back may be what\u2019s needed if your employer has doubts about whether you can handle it. Even if you don\u2019t stay or advance in that company, you\u2019ll be honing your skills and rebooting your resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attitude matters: <\/strong>In the 1950s, there was an animated cartoon that featured a salesman at someone\u2019s door saying, \u201cyou wouldn\u2019t want to buy this gizmo would you?\u201d. It\u2019s funny in a cartoon. It\u2019s not funny in life. Getting out of the habit of assuming inadequacy requires at least pretending that you have the energy and ambition to sell yourself. In a blog on Huffington Post, motivational speaker Mike Robbins wrote about the importance of pretending as a route to accomplishment: \u201c\u2026if we act \u2018as if\u2019 something is already occurring in our lives (even if it\u2019s not), or act \u2018as if\u2019 we know how to do something (even if we don\u2019t) we create the conditions for it to manifest in our life\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open yourself to learning. <\/strong>Difficult times, including mental illness, even set-backs and failures, can help us go in a new direction, develop more compassion, or better assess what we want and can do. It\u2019s often useful to take a step back to consider what positive knowledge has come out of a challenging experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get ready for luck: <\/strong>Business consultant Idowu Koyenikan has been quoted as saying, \u201copportunity does not waste time with those who are unprepared\u201d. Being prepared means working at your talents and skills every day, regardless of whether you feel like it. Practicing what we want to do for work may not seem like it is paying off. It may seem like no one is paying attention. But when opportunity knocks, and it usually does at some point, you\u2019ll be ready to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t wait until you feel better to look for work:<\/strong> Psychologists and motivational speakers will tell you that waiting to feel better before getting back to work isn\u2019t helpful. It works the other way. Getting back into life is what will help you feel good again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker<\/a>, Ed.D. is an author, licensed psychologist, and a marriage and family therapist who has been in practice for more than 35 years. She specializes in couples and family therapy and parent education. She writes regularly for Psych Central<\/a> as well as Psych Central\u2019s Ask the Therapist feature. She is author of the insightful parenting e-book, Tending the Family Heart. Check out her book, Unlocking the Secrets of Self-Esteem.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.\u00a0 \u2022\u00a0 Psych Central www.psychcentral.com \u201cI\u2019m still too depressed to find a job,\u201d says one young man. \u201cI lost my car when I was so depressed so how can I even look?\u201d From a young woman: \u201cI don\u2019t have the energy for a full-time job and I don\u2019t feel ready to be … Read More “Getting Back to Work When You\u2019ve Been Depressed”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578,"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions\/2578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okanaganfamilymagazine.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}