When her supervisor asked to see her, Karen felt a nervous twinge in her stomach. Walking to her office, she reviewed the last several months and wondered if she had done something wrong. Employees usually didn’t get called into the supervisor’s office unless some costly mistake had happened. She silently hoped that a co-worker hadn’t made a complaint against her. Karen’s anxiety intensified as she neared the office still unable to deduct a reason for the summons.
“Thanks for coming back,” her supervisor said as she motioned Karen to take a seat opposite her. “I wanted to touch base with you to see how you’re doing.”
“Is anything wrong?” Karen asked, nervously, her hands trembling slightly in her lap.
“Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. You haven’t seemed like yourself lately.”
“Is there a problem with my work?”
“No-o-o-o, not really. But I have noticed that you seem pretty down. You’ve missed more work over the last four months than I can ever remember. Is everything okay? It’s been a long time since I saw you smile.”
Karen couldn’t deny that her supervisor spoke the truth—only she’d been feeling this way for a lot longer than the past four months. She’d just been better at hiding it before. Not knowing what to say, she looked down at her hands.
Finally, feeling trapped by the silence, she said, “I guess I haven’t been feeling much like myself lately. I don’t really know what’s wrong.”
“Karen, you’re a valuable employee and someone I’d like to consider a friend. Over the past several months, from where I sit, this hasn’t gotten better, it’s gotten worse. I’m worried about you. I think maybe it would be good to figure out what’s causing you to feel this way.”
Are You Depressed?
How do you know if you’re depressed? When does sadness become depression? How many “bad days” can a person have in a row and not be considered depressed? How can you tell if how you’re feeling is something that’s going to get better on its own? These are excellent questions. Before you continue any further into this book, take time with the depression survey. This is not a scientific tool, but rather a way for you to identify contributing conditions in your life.
The above is excerpted from Turning Your Down Into Up: A Realistic Plan for Healing From Depression by Gregory L. Jantz.
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