Hi people,
What do you think about disclosing your depression in the workplace? Telling your boss or HR or someone you trust.
Is it a good idea?
What are your experiences?
share your suicide story
Report Post
Please log in to report posts
8 comments
i wouldnt. because then youd probably have to deal with a bunch a crap youd be better off without. unless you think that person can handle it without freaking out.
I work as an engineer (you can probably tell by my username). Company I used to work for wasn’t very understanding. I was hospitalised for 2 weeks following a suicide attempt. When I was released, my manager called me in for a talk (which she was 2 hours late for and then proceeded to tell me I “really need to grow up” because I didn’t have a medical certificate with me right then) where she told me that not disclosing to HR at the time I had been hired, if I had known I had depression, would be grounds for sacking.
I’m pretty glad I don’t work there any more. A few months before that they laid off the receptionist two weeks after she told HR she was pregnant.
That said, I told my current boss when he hired me, and he has been very understanding.
thats cool. ive never told anyone about my depression. ive never tried to kill myself other than living my crazy life if that counts.
I told my current boss about it and honestly it was the worst thing I have ever done. She now looks at me differently and has told everyone in my workplace. They all look done on me and think I am pathetic. One day I thought the toilets were empty, so I crying (about personal reasons) and my boss heard me and told me to shut up, stop skiving and get back to work. Another day she told me depression was a lazy mans excuse to not work, and that People who have it just want everyone feel sorry for you and are attention seeking. Bosses may say they care, but when it comes down to it they don’t. They just want you there to work. I am now leaving this job because of it. So I would just say make sure you get to know your employers properly first before you tell them.
That’s shocking. What a cow. She had no right to tell anyone, let alone chastise you for “laziness”. You should find a new job and then quit that one.
I was just thinking if I could go back to my redundancy meeting, I’d tell the HR manager how the receptionist lost her baby a few weeks after being laid off just so I could see the look on her face.
I hate spineless management. They don’t know how to run a business, only play politics.
I got lucky and my boss is really understanding. She and the rest of our team (though she was the only one other than hr that knew why I was out for 2 weeks) even sent my family and I food and a prepaid visa to help out. I appreciated the empathy and gesture, but I’m still ready to go. I actually would rather the effort had happened to someone else that wants to continue so it wasn’t wasted on me. But that’s how this silly world works.
I think someone you trust is key. But how can you tell if you can trust someone? This is my biggest blind spot.