The percentage of adults with symptoms of anxiety and depression has gone up from 36.4% to 41.5% this year. With people now working remotely, you must know that working from home and depression go hand in hand.
Depression affects our well-being. Yet, we find it hard to identify these warning signs among our loved ones. Over the last decades, public health initiatives raised awareness on mental health education.
Now people are aware of the general signs of depression, but these cues are hard to spot on people working remotely.
Are you wondering if you or your loved one is ailing from anxiety while working remotely? If so, watch out for these red flags:
Change in Communication Patterns
Have you noticed an inconsistency in your communications? Maybe you were very active through emails and other communications channels with people you do business together. But, you now have long lags, delays, and inconsistencies in how you communicate.
You probably haven’t talked to anyone in a long time. That is a sure sign you are suffering from depression.
Decreased Energy
When feeling depressed, you will experience a lack of energy or participation. Consider checking on your loved ones when you notice they aren’t interacting with their usual demeanor.
Notice any decrease in motivation or a lack of engagement while having virtual meetings with colleagues. Any of these suggests that a person is not okay. They may be experiencing stress or depression.
Isolation
Working from home hinders the mutual trust that develops from working at the office with your colleagues. Even though you have family members with you while working from home, it is not the same as working from the office.
When you lack someone to turn to when feeling depressed or anxious to work may lead to depression. While at the office, it is common to bond over stressful situations. You can receive help by talking to a colleague or visiting the manager’s office.
Also, bonding over lunch and events at work is something you miss out on while working remotely; hence you feel apart from the team.
Working from home takes that away, and you often think twice before talking to someone at home and asking for help. But there are San Diego rehab centers offering help and counseling to anyone suffering from isolation stress.
Difficulty in Concentrating and Making Decisions
Distraction or hesitation in making decisions is another sign of depression. You have to pay attention and study someone’s progress or work habits. See if they are falling short of their daily work and household productivity.
Study how your loved one engages with the rest of the people at home. Have you noticed someone who engages with the rest now detaching themselves? Or, maybe they are at times being irritable? That is another sign of depression.
Changes in Presentation
How are you doing video presentations? Study how you or anyone at home presents to notice any changes. Are they unkempt, disheveled, or tired? That is a sign they are not doing well while working from home.
When they consistently appear that way, it is one of the depression symptoms. While you are doing meeting presentations, you notice that you are distracted, irritable, or on edge, indicating anxiety.
Consistent Absenteeism
Consistent absenteeism and showing up to work late does not mean someone has a bad work ethic. Depression can make you feel dejected, under sleep, oversleep, or have an anxiety attack.
Before approaching someone suffering from this, look at their productivity before the pandemic hit. Consider the situation to thoughtfully address the cause and study any recent changes in family schedules.
Tardiness, Cancellations, and Forgetfulness
You have to identify any changes in performance and consistency. Depression causes cognitive changes which impact time management, memory, and executive functioning tasks.
When you notice depression in your friend or family member, address that from a compassionate perspective.
Alcohol and Substance Abuse
Depression often occurs together with substance use. Their relationship is usually bi-directional. That means people abusing drugs are likely to suffer from depression and vice versa. Remote workers end up using alcohol to lift their moods.
Besides, when the effect of the alcohol wears off, they end up feeling depressed. They also struggle to cope with how the addiction impacts their daily life. Alcohol treatment centers San Diego are the best places to seek help for remote workers with alcohol addiction.
Anxiety and Stress
Are you bored from working in the same place? You are likely to suffer from burnout because you do not have time to disconnect and unplug from work.
You have to learn how to calm anxiety. An easy way to do that is by taking time-outs and practicing yoga. You also have to take balanced meals to stay healthy and boost your energy. You also have to limit alcohol and caffeine consumption.
Enough sleep is an extra need during anxiety treatment. Another way of calming anxiety is by accepting it. Letting it run its course without fighting it makes it less. Fighting it will result in panic attacks.
You Now Know How Working From Home and Depression Are Related
We don’t always know when depression starts affecting us while working remotely. But, there are ways to gain support. Professional counselors understand working from home and depression during this pandemic is unwavering.
We at Apex Recovery are one of the rehab centers in San Diego whose aim is to help anyone suffering from depression and addictions. We provide drug and alcohol treatment programs.
We are among the San Diego alcohol rehabilitation centers offering the best services. Our proven treatment practices are highly effective for long-term recoveries.
Call us now and find out more about our services.