What's the job situation like for you

[Pilule]

Have you got a job?

Have you got a good job?

Do you like it?

Does it make you feel better of worst?

How does depression affect your job?

Are you able to work full time?

How do you make ends meet?

[Alaska1958]

Hi Pilule, from 1992 to 2012 I worked in broadcasting and liked it. Good benefits and ok pay worked out well for me, my wife and the 2 boys we had during that time.

I always had a problem with depression, but worked full time and it wasn't too difficult. In more recent years though I had a harder time at work and eventually was fired. I came to have more and more trouble focusing and with the changes in TV from analog broadcasting to digital, I seemed to have too much trouble adapting.

The day I lost my job I knew I had to go out and get another right away or I'd sink into a deep depression and stop moving. But I couldn't do it. I sat around and watched tv all day and half the night. I still did things around the house, laundry, cooking, running errands, but in between times I just sat there. I wasn't even applying for jobs. I drove cab at night later, but didn't have much success. After about five months my wife got sick of having me around and threw me out. Then last March, I got sick with a bad infection. I am better now,but I haven't seriously looked for work.

I've been getting by with a lot of help from my brother and my mother. The money and the benefits from cab driving were terrible, but it was better for my mental health than most any other job I've had. However it left me with no time for my sons. I was working 5,6 and sometimes 7 days a week doing 12 hour shifts.

Now I have my boys 3 and 4 days a week and that means a lot to me. I need to find a job that will fit in with, what I hope will be, permanent half time custody.

I'm struggling, but I do seem to be making some progress.

It does help to have a job, but it doesn't keep the depression away, it just helps to stay busy.

[Pilule]

Alaska,

Well, you have more guts than me. Beside last week, were I worked 2 12 hours days, I don't remember working long days like that ever.
And working 7 days a week, I never did that, I wouldn't be able to do that.

At you former job, you had no union? you don't have a government agency to protect you? Couldn't they reassigned you?

Your wife didn't have much patience with you.

I think I remember you saying that you had electromagnetic stimulation, did help?

Good luck in your job search.

[nenkohai]

Hi Guys,

I do have a job. I've never been out of work as a result of my depression, but it has affected my work.

For the last 7 years or so, owing to the nature of my work, I am alone in a dark room about 80% of my time. Last year, when my life seemed to go to hell, I would have crying-jags which no one ever saw. And I am thankful. I took about a week and a half of sick-time owing directly to my state of mind. Fortunately, it was never for very long (missing work).

I like my job to a point. I get performance anxiety. I work in a creative field and up until recently, I had a very hard time accepting criticism. Of course, my field of work tends to be fly-paper for people out to prove something; or with a chip on their shoulder; or ppl without any apparent social graces.

I've gotten yelled at twice in my 26-year career. Took me a solid week to recover when it happened.

We live in Washington, DC which is super-expensive to live in. I am adequately compensated given the area and my experience. But that wouldn't be enough with a mortgage and one child in college and another at home. My wife also works. She is under-compensated for the role she plays in her company. I must admit that kinda pisses me off. The home-office, located in a mid-western city, does not understand what it takes to maintain a presence in Washington, DC. And a myriad of other factors... my opinion, of course...

Between mine and my wife's income, we do okay. Not stellar. We keep up with our debts, etc.

I'm 49. A little young to be itching to retire, I know. Perhaps I just need a career change. I am not fulfilled here. I solve the same problems over and over ad nauseum. I have no path to upward advancement. Its just how it is.

Given everything, I am fine.

I hope you guys find some modicum of peace and success. Truly.

Respects.

[Alaska1958]

You probably shouldn't get me started on my wife. I've definitely got issues with her. As for making accommodations for me at work. My best shot was another job at the station that I was more qualified for. Such a job came up and I applied, but didn't get it. It was unfortunate, but in the world of today loyalty is not often rewarded.

The ECT did help, but it came with enough damage to my memory that I wouldn't do it again. Also, my insurance covered eighty percent of the cost and since I was at Mayo clinic for three weeks it left me with a pretty big bill.

All those years I worked in public broadcasting (both tv and fm), I loved being part of a team that I believed was doing something important. But I also spent the majority of the time working alone, interacting with either a control board or a computer. A lot of the time I spent cab driving, I was interacting with people and fairly busy. It was much better for my mental health to work with people and try to stay busy.

Thanks for asking.

[Alaska1958]

Working alone in a dark room sounds like a really unhealthy way for someone like us to spend their days. Good luck.

Any chance you could change over to something more socially interactive?

[nenkohai]

You're background sounds interesting, Alaska. I'm in broadcasting as well. I'm an audio post production mixer for Discovery Channel...

I can certainly understand how cab-driving might agree better with your mental health!

Continued hopes for you...

[Pilule]

Alaska

Is your memory back to normal and do you still feel better than before the treatment?
Did you get the electroshock or the electromagnetic treatment?
My shrink wants me to get the electromagnetic treatment but it scares me.

[Alaska1958]

I had ECT, so not the electro magnetic kind. You might want to give it a try. I have some recollection that the two methods have somewhat similar results. But I'm not sure, it's been about 5 years now and I didn't keep up with the research and studies after I tried it.

I wouldn't say that the results have held up for me, but then again I think most people need additional treatments to keep the depression in check. I seem to remember that the magnetic treatment has less impact on memory. Is my memory back to normal? I really don't know. I don't think my memory is as good as it used to be, but I'm really not sure if it's the decades of depression, the ECT or just middle age hitting me upside the head with a 2X4? Over the last winter driving cab, I was frequently emberased to have to ask where some street was. I was born here, I have lived here for over 50 years, I've driven cabs, school buses and shuttle buses here for years. Streets that I have, literally, driven past over a thousand times over those years, I have had to say to my fare or the dispatcher :what part of town is that in? A lot of the other drivers knew town better than I and had lived here a lot less time.

[Pilule]

Alaska,

Aren't you supposed to have many treatments for it to work?

I heard somewhere between 10 and 15???

I'm not going to go for that, I don't have a penny to my name so I can't afford it. Plus, if it causes memory problems it could really screw me good.

I don't think we loose memory because of our old age, I just think that the drawer is full.

Thanks for the info.

[Alaska1958]

I had three treatments a week for three weeks. At least that's my recollection. The memory issues are supposed to effect short term memory, but I'm not sure about that.

You're probably right to say no.