Becoming Depressed at Work: A Study of Worker Narratives

Abstract

Depression at work has been the subject of a growing body of research. However, though increasing attention is being paid to more contextualized orientations to the phenomenon, little is known of the experience of the depressed worker as worker, rather than (just) as depressed patient. There are few empirical accounts of how the workplace itself is implicated in the processes of becoming depressed. This article discusses the findings of an in-depth narrative interview study of 20 workers diagnosed with depression. A Systemic Family Therapy interview framework was utilized, enabling a focus not merely on medical symptoms but also on the network of workplace relations within which workers had been embedded prior to diagnosis. Implications of the findings for the management of work-related depression are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• discourse analysis
• return to work
• Systemic Family Therapy
• workplace change
• work-related depression