Boredom or stress?

LegacyUser

I have had depression for a long time now but I have gotten used to hiding it. I'm on medication and i've had couselling, I can do the everyday things, get up, go to work, put on a happy face etc and people are surprised if I tell them I have it. But my thoughts are very intense and intrusive. Most of my energy is spent fighting my own thoughts and preventing myself from hurting myself.

The thing is the company I work for is closing down and I need to look for another job. At the moment I'm doing secretarial work but I'm really bored and this is not helping my thoughts. I have diploma in computing and I would love to do something with this but I don't know if I could cope with any stress in a job. Anytime I have someone expecting something from me or deadlines to meet, my brain goes into meltdown. I suppose what I really want to know is how do others with bad depression cope with work? Have you had to make any comprimises regarding the job you do? Which is worse for you, boredom or stress?

ando

Hi,

What’s that saying, a rested body = a restless mind... It goes something like that anyway. The boredom defiantly will not help with your negative taughts. In my experience, boredom is the spawning ground for negative taughts. To much stress can obviously be distressful aswell but it can also be a motivator to get up and do something to resolve your problem.

You don’t know if you could cope with stress... Ah I used to be the same, thinking I could not handle a bad situation if it arose. Hell of course you could cope. The 'head melting' is only your body on panic stations, however panic fades very fast and soon your logical taughts will come back into focus. I suffer from GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) but I have a relatively high stress IT job. Yeah the negative taughts used to really get to me at times aswell but I have found ways to deal with them effectively, I feel for you when you say they are very intense and intrusive cause I know what its like.

To answer your question, boredom is the killer IMO as it allows your mind to go into overdrive, although to much stress is not too healthy either. I would suggest if you got into a stressful job that you find balance in your lifestyle to release the tension of the job. IE, I'm in the auxiliary fire service, its completely different to my IT job and its a great outlet for the stress built up from my IT job, which is very helpful for my health, aswell as my long term career plans :cool:

Victor

Stress, anxiety, boredom, depression all play / prey on each other.

It's good that you are functional ("I can do the everyday things, get up, go to work, put on a happy face") and I suspect being unemployed and bored won't help things. Seek out some work, to keep food on the table / roof over head and shop around the recruitment agencies to see if they have something that might suit you.

Beware the intrusive thoughts (mine are predominantly violent towards others), shut them out and try to keep yourself busy / entertained by something else. Do something nice for yourself (cinema, nice meal, a trip ...).

Regarding the stress of deadlines, etc. some stress is good. However if it is too much to handle, just explain it to people (2 minutes before deadline may be too late to tell them).

OfflerCrocGod

Yes it is boredom, I'm amazingly bored with my life and because of that I'm also sad and depressed. The thing that really helps me is some running and exercise it really helps you and it lifts you up, try that.

Victor

ando wrote:

I would suggest if you got into a stressful job that you find balance in your lifestyle to release the tension of the job.

Cross posted, but I'm thinking "hmmmmm, how about a low-stress job and a high stress past-time?"

LegacyUser

Thank you for your replies, sometimes its good to know that I'm not the only one that feels like this

Victor wrote:

Beware the intrusive thoughts (mine are predominantly violent towards others)

I have the same type of thoughts, violence towards others and myself. I've been told that its a kind of OCD, compulsive thinking. I've never acted on them but they still come and all I can do is wait until they pass. A more interesting job might help to pass the time quicker.

Thanks again