Posted by JohnL on March 2, 2000, at 3:23:17
In reply to When to go back to work, posted by Carolyn on March 1, 2000, at 8:23:35
> I am currently on short-term disability. My company wants to know when I might return to work. I started a new med a week and a half ago with no effects yet. I have no idea how to answer this question...and I doubt that my doctor does either. Who knows if this med will work, or how long it will take if it does! I am also wondering how to know when it is time to go back to work. I know it's not now...but is there any guideline? In the past I have always wanted to work when I felt good. Should I wait for that...try sooner?
> Anybody with any ideas?I can sure relate. Depression is a serious handicap for me. I have discovered though that going to work, no matter what, is healthier for me than any other choice. The hardest things I've ever done in my life are: getting ready for work, getting in the car, walking through the front door at work, and starting the day's work. Even when I'm relatively OK, the dread and proscrastination is smothering.
But for me work is healthy. Not therapeutic, but healthy. Waiting within the four walls of my home with little outside contact or responsibility only makes things even worse than work does.
I accept that I won't be as productive as I would like at work. But sometimes I am surprised to find I do better than expected once I get started. For me work is a form of escape. I try to focus on each task one at a time, dive in, and in a way it is kind of a temporary distraction or escape from my depression. It allows my mind to at least temporarily be occupied with other thoughts than just how bad I feel. There is no perfect world, and we're all different, but for me forcing myself to go to work is healthier than staying home. I find it's not as bad as I expected once I actually get started. It is a forced distraction from the misery of stubborn depression.
poster:JohnL
thread:25104
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000220/msgs/25398.html