Work and depression

I can't understand how people who have jobs that they hate can be satisfied, I mean everyone my age who say work in shops, labourers and cleaners say they hate going to work. Since they are only in their early twenties you would think they would be depressed or something knowing that they have thirty odd years or so of that type of work. Yet people at University seem to be more depressed.

Im not at uni myself so im not looking down on anyone like it sounds and being unemployed im constantly wondering these things lol.

Reply 1

blissy

15

Stress is a major factor in depression and how satisfied you are in your life.
Crap job = less responsibility, less stress maybe?
University = oodles of responsibility, loads of stress, having to take personal responsibility for your every move - lots of stress?

Reply 2

beach surf babe

14

Although there have been studies that have found people who don't have very much responsibility or control are more stressed. I guess it just depends on how good you are at dealing with it. I can see what you mean about not being very satisfied with a basic level job though, you kinda need something to aspire to.

Reply 3

saturn

OP

blissy

Stress is a major factor in depression and how satisfied you are in your life.
Crap job = less responsibility, less stress maybe?
University = oodles of responsibility, loads of stress, having to take personal responsibility for your every move - lots of stress?

lol I wouldn't say crap, your right though, I would have thought people with less academic jobs would have got fed up due to the same routine etc and hardly any opportunities.

Reply 4

puppy

saturn

I can't understand how people who have jobs that they hate can be satisfied, I mean everyone my age who say work in shops, labourers and cleaners say they hate going to work. Since they are only in their early twenties you would think they would be depressed or something knowing that they have thirty odd years or so of that type of work. Yet people at University seem to be more depressed.

Im not at uni myself so im not looking down on anyone like it sounds and being unemployed im constantly wondering these things lol.

This is a crude generalisation, but:

People at uni are smart, smart people worry about stuff, ignorance is bliss, stupid people are happy.

- actually that's a totaly lie. A small proportion of people at uni are smart.

Also if you've set yourself up to achieve things theres a lot of pressure not to fail, if your life could only really get better then what is there to be stressed about?

Depression is such a middle class problem, no wonder it affects people at uni. People in low paid jobs suffer from stress but I think it manifests itself (or at least they interpret it) in different ways, rather than as depression.

Reply 5

FadeToBlackout

15

Just to put in my two pennies' worth...

I'm at Uni now, but spent a lot of time last summer working full time at Morrisons, and over last christmas as well. And I mean 39 hours a week of work, plus teabreaks, plus time to and from work... so basically work and sleeping and nowt else!

Anyway, I hated the jobs I had. They were generally physically hard, like collecting trollies out in the rain, stacking shelves, moving pallets around in the warehouse... they were also intellectually boring. Checkout work is horrible, easy enough to be boring but hard enough to let you make a serious mistake if yu lose concentration.

I got to know a lot of my colleagues, and I'm not insulting their intelligence or aptitude in any way- they did the jobs quicker and better than I did, we've just got different skills. Anyway, I knew several people there who'd gone straight from school at 16 or 18, and planned to spend some time there. I also got to know the older staff, who tended to take on the job just to get a bit more cash or whatever. Anyway, the way around that was that everyone spent as much time as they could having fun and trying to enjoy it, moaning for stress relief, generally complaining and most of all enjoying each other's company as a team. There's a lot to be said for having done a really depressing and horrible job with someone else, and being able to step back at the end of the day and think you did it together. Other than that, there's as many jokes and laughing and the odd prank as you want. All in all the thing that makes most really bad jobs tolerable is the people you work with!

Reply 6

Juno

20

Those kind of jobs are only temporary though, and people plan to either work up or move on. And it's also a way of getting money so you can then go out at night and enjoy yourself.

Reply 7

Tarts_n_Vicars

13

Plus for a lot of people a job is just a way to earn money, it's not meant to be some super fulfilling passtime. So yeah it's boring, you could do it with your eyes closed but it's a cheque at the end of the month and your free time is your own. For some people that's fine.

Others though would think "is this what I have to look forward to til I'm 65?". I'm one of those people...which is why I left my 9-5 job to go to uni.

Work and depression

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