Work depression: How to get unstuck

More than 1 in 3 American employees ^[1] say that their job negatively affects their mental health. It’s natural to sometimes feel stressed about your job. But if these feelings don’t go away over time, or if they’re impacting other areas of your life, you might be experiencing work depression.

With work-related depression, you might experience negative thoughts, a sense of hopelessness, overwhelm, or an overall irritable mood. Making changes at work can help, but if your depression symptoms are impacting your daily functioning, know that support is available. You deserve to feel well in all areas of your life, including at your job.

Subtle signs of work depression

“Work depression” isn’t a specific diagnosis with its own set of symptoms. It refers to when someone develops symptoms of a depressive disorder that are related to their circumstances at work.

Work depression can look similar to burnout, which is when you start to lose a sense of meaning and fulfillment in your job. But depression is a mental health condition that requires treatment, while burnout isn’t.

At work, depression can show up in different ways:

• Experiencing sadness, numbness, or irritability: You might constantly feel like you’re on the verge of tears or snap at your coworkers for minor things.

• Feeling fatigued: Some people may even fall asleep at work or call out sick because of fatigue.

• Experiencing feelings of worthlessness or guilt: You feel like you can’t do anything right at work (and in other areas of your life). You might lose confidence, even if you’ve felt proud of your work before.

• Experiencing hopelessness: You feel like nothing will ever get better. This could be about how you feel emotionally or about your job specifically. For example, you might have thoughts like, “I’m never going to get anywhere in my career.”

• Having a hard time concentrating: You might notice that you’re less productive or focused when you’re at work. You might be making more mistakes, which can make work feel even more stressful.

• Withdrawing socially: You may feel lonely and not know how to reach out for support at work. Or maybe you feel altogether disconnected from everyone you work with.

• Refusing to work: You may dread the thought of going into work and begin to call out more often. 

• Engaging in quiet quitting: You may begin to do less and less at work, only fulfilling your job requirements and nothing extra. This usually comes from feeling undervalued and/or underpaid at work. 

On top of these signs, you might also experience symptoms of depression in other areas of your life, like:

• Changes in your eating patterns

• Changes in sleeping patterns

• Having thoughts about death or suicide*

*The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides 24/7, confidential support with trained crisis counselors. If you or a loved one is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, please call or text 988. 

If experiencing a life-threatening emergency or you need immediate help, please call 911.

Underlying causes of work-related depression

Depression can have many causes, and work-related stressors can play a significant role. Work alone isn’t usually a direct cause of depression. There are usually many risk factors that come together to make you more likely to develop depression — including your genetics, neurobiology, and other things going on in your life. 

You might be more likely to develop work-related depression if you:

• Aren’t receiving the support you need at work

• Work with toxic managers and colleagues

• Aren’t where you’d imagined or hoped you would be in your career, and it’s affecting your self-worth

• Have a high-pressure job where you’re constantly needing to manage changing deadlines and high stakes

• Work long hours, which doesn’t leave enough time to take care of yourself in other areas

Dig deeper:

• Why post-vacation depression happens

Can working from home cause depression?

Working from home has many benefits. But reports show ^[2] that remote workers are more likely to experience loneliness, anger, and sadness. Some studies ^[3] find that working remotely could directly cause or increase depression. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean that working from home will make you experience depression. And if you already live with depression, remote work can offer the flexibility you need for treatment and self-care. But you may need to take extra steps to make sure that remote work isn’t affecting your mental health.

The hidden costs of living with job depression 

Depression significantly affects both employees and the organizations they work for.

For example, reports ^[4] show that:

• 3% of short-term disability days are due to a depressive episode.

• Depression is the third-most common workplace challenge that’s seen by employee assistance programs. 

• Employees with poor mental health take almost 12 days ^[5] of unplanned absences per year, on average.

Depression is rarely limited to one area of your life. If you’re feeling depressed due to work, it’s likely that you’re also experiencing symptoms at other times. You deserve to feel well both at work and in your personal life.

What you can do about feeling depressed at work

Fortunately, depression can be managed with treatment. It doesn’t have a cure, but you can feel better to the point where your symptoms are no longer affecting your work (or the rest of your life). 

Here are some actions you can take if you’re facing work-related depression.

1. Manage work-related stress

Stress at work is one of the main factors that leads to depression. It can feel empowering to learn coping skills that you can use to better manage stress at work. It may not make depression go away altogether, but it can make work easier to deal with.

For example, you might implement stricter boundaries for yourself (like clocking out on time or not responding to emails when you’re out of office). Or you can use mindfulness to notice when certain situations are triggering you.

2. Talk to someone

You don’t need to go through depression alone. Talk to someone about what you’re going through. It could be a friend, coworker, or a more formal form of support like a therapist. Social support can’t replace professional depression treatment, but it makes a big difference.

Having strong social support can protect you against depression. Just make sure to choose someone who you trust and feel safe with.

3. Get the accommodations you need

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects the right to reasonable workplace accommodations for people with disabilities. This includes mental health conditions like depression. Accommodations might include things like more flexibility on deadlines or a quieter workspace. These accommodations can make it possible for you to continue to succeed at work while you’re experiencing depression.

Keep in mind that to get accommodations, you’ll usually need to get a depression diagnosis from a licensed healthcare provider. You’ll also need to let your human resources department or manager know.

4. Consider making a change

You might feel like even if you leave your job, depression would continue to affect you. This may be true, but if your job is a significant source of stress for you, making a change could make a difference. It’s important to understand when you’re experiencing depression and when you’re just having a natural emotional reaction to a toxic environment.

If possible, you might consider talking to your manager about changing certain things about your job. For example, you might try to move to another team or ask to work from home more. If things don’t improve, you might think about changing jobs altogether if that’s financially possible for you.

5. Take care of other areas of your life

When your job is all-consuming, you may be more likely to neglect other areas of your life. Try to remember that you’re a complete and multifaceted human being with needs and desires outside of work. When you take care of yourself in a more holistic way, you might find that you feel better overall, including at work.

For example, you can find enjoyable ways to move your body. Exercise is one of the top activities that protects against depression. Or you can nourish yourself with healthy foods. Make sure you’re also connecting with your loved ones, making time for your hobbies, and finding other sources of fun and fulfillment.

6. Get mental health treatment

Although these strategies can make a difference, depression doesn’t usually go away on its own. If your symptoms don’t go away after making these changes, professional mental health treatment can help. 

Therapy is usually the recommended treatment for depressive disorder (regardless of the cause). A therapist can give you a safe space to explore how depression has affected your life. They can help you learn new ways of thinking that can make you feel better. Many people also benefit from antidepressant medication. You can talk with your provider about the best options for you.

Clinician’s take

Ongoing numbness or hopelessness about work often indicates work-related depression. When weekends no longer bring relief, it often signals something deeper than temporary stress. Fortunately, therapy can help you process these difficult feelings.

Ashley Ayala, LMFT

Clinical reviewer