...to find it appalling that 50% of people need antidepressants to do their jobs?

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

Heard a very rough statistic from a GP today that said about 50% of his patients have been on anti-depressants at some time.
What is it with this country? Why do we feel the need to work ourselves into ill health? The whole work-life balance thing seems to be a complete myth, people are still doing way too much unpaid overtime.
I'm not being unsympathetic here, my OH is mid-meltdown right now, and it seems to be part of the fabric of our culture. When I think of Britain I think of anonymous people at desks like tiny robots in a big machine that doesn't care, or even sickly Victorians working themselves to an early grave in mills and factories.

love the name PissyGalore

sorry to hear your GP is a twat

cheers Gibbon. it suits me right now (i do feel rather pissy a fair amount of the time right now)

hmm .. I was wodnering soemthign similar recenlty.. everyones seems to be 'depressed'.. beginnign to think its either a coontagious disease, or a natural state...

pmsl@pointy dog... (no conversation abotu depression woudl be complete without soem reference to Morrissy!)

I'd say that people are on them to cope with life in general - work is just a small part of that.

50% of a GP's patients is a huge number though and quite concerning - not sure how that compares to the percentage of the adult population - higher than average I should think.

so let me get this right on the basis of an anecdotal conversation with a GP a general practitioner not a clinical psych specialist u reckon 50% of individuals are taking prescribed meds

the words/thoughts..all spring to mind

evidence base
corroborating evidence
efficacy

maybe a lot of ole tosh fron the gp

a lot of inaccurate nonsense is talked about psychiatry..and it does not promote the liberal and skills base that alsoexist - not just prescribing meds

i think its because we are no longer a spiriutal nation.
look at any person couple etc. doesnt matter what religion/faith they belong to, but if they observe it, then they are usually very content with their lot in life. they wont be the ones on antidpressants etc. since we no longer have faith to keep us going, what else is there? medication is easily prescribed, and does work. but i agree its not a solution. just a quick fix

ads exist so of course we are going to use them.

life is long, a course of Seroxat short. Probably.

Life in the UK is terribly pressured (London especially). My employers in the UK had my soul - I did 3 years on call without a break - being called up and working all night and then having to work the next day. 3 YEARS!! Thats 1200 nights without a break.

In Australia if I even suggest that I might be available for work at a weekend (not even overnight!) they all reach for the smelling salts and tell me that weekends are for family.

It's much easier to see how much pressure everybody is under in the UK once you leave.

Whilst I don't think work is a direct cause for the need of AD's, it is certainly a contributor. Even in the indirect sense. How many women give up work, look after baby, income halves, dh works all hours to support the family, family life suffers, woman feels guilty and gets down, can't afford childcare / is unable to earn enough to pay childcare and still bring home money at the end of the month, man and woman argue, woman and possibly man get depressed and fed up with it all.... etc....

or is that just my life?

It's the people without work by the way who get more depressed in the UK. Work cures a lot of depression in a sense or makes you less likely to get it.

..it's why in the 1950s and 1960s when quite a few women were silly enough to think being a housewife was some kind of fun thing to do or their marital duty there were huge numbers of tranquillisers handed out. More women at home with children are depressed than women with children who work. Obviously that's not surprising - 4 walls to look at, nappies to deal with compared with fun work, interacting with adults etc.

I'm torn here. My work seems inconsequential in the overall scheme of things. Staying at home with baby full time would send me into a spin. I work 24hrs a week and am away from home 12 hrs over three days. I am not happy and suspect depression (three bereavements in quick succession I am sure is the trigger) but for me it is the whole picture not just work.

Xenia mentions 'fun' work. I did have a job like that. We were a great team that socialised a lot and we are all still friends but babies and promotions put an end to it all. The job itself was ok but the people were great fun to be around. SO for me work can open you up to some great relationships and friendships but if you are working with assholes then that is a bad recipe.

For me the trick to a happy life is family support, a reasonably active social life, good friends, sport and good health ( I at this moment have only 1 of these). Work needs to compliment that by not sucking the life force out of you and being reasonably challenging but above all sharing your office with decent people.

i agree, work can be great if you have a good time. I always remember laughing alot at the office, ok the actual job wasnt the best, but the people and the odd drink after work can help make life pretty fun. But stressful people at the office and it can just add to the overall stress.

Dh ended up on AD's as a result of work. He was lucky- his other colleague was dead by 50 from a heart attack at his desk!!!

He was expected to go in for 6am (which was an hours drive) and was lucky to be home for 10.30 pm. He got no breaks, Poeple who complained were quietly ostracised until they were so unhappy they left. He left in the end had a comnplete breakdown and walked out some years ago). Walked into a worse job (its the industry he's in) but fortunately lost that and was forced to have time off to recover, which coincided with ds3's birth so although financially tough, had a good side too.

He had another session on them in his current job, there is a direct correlation between depression and night work apparently, and in our 24 hour culture lots of people have to work nights.

But agree with others that there are many, many other factors. Not sure that people at home more likely to be on AD's- and if it is the case then there's a lot on contributory stuff, such as people on AD's more likely to be unable to cope with work, get the motivation to find a job, more likely to come from a background of poverty etc etc etc

Shall I remind Xenia that in the 50's people who were at home had no option of finding work (limited childvcare, socially unacceptable, employers such as the post office expecting people to leave when they ahd baby etc etc etc)

That's true. My mother used proudly though to say she was the only woman on that bit of our street who actually looked after her children (and wasn't a stay at home mother with a full time nanny). Mind you she turned to drink with being at home...... I'm not sure having babies and staying home is the best recipe for good mental health and we all know married women have the worst mental health and married men the best which is why if I had any sense I'd stay single I suppose.

I used ADs because of PND, not my work.

I've always had crappy jobs. I make the most of 'em .

The way I see it, one crap job is just as good as another, because they're easy to get.

So if you don't like the people, just find another ship to jump on.

I think my Mum would have preferred to work, she was quite successful in her day even won an award (legal secretary thing) but had a si ple choice: 9 months bedrest or no kids. Never got back to work after, though more my Dad being uber dependant than anything else.

To stay afloat (imo) you have to have something. Work, a course, a hobby you deeply love- anything to keep you motivated and give you that adrenaline rush. Any one of those works- but a conmplete absence of that feeling is where the problems lie (I'm talking reactive, not chemical depression of course- PND etc is a completely different kettle of fish. You can have the most or elast re3warding life in the word and PND / chemical depression can get you anyhow)