Is It Ok To Put You're Out On Social Media If You're Off Work With Depression?

[abbeyleigh]

If you're off with depression is it ok to still go out and about and put it on you're story?

[johnny.5]

yes

[bednobs]

i disagree. it may well be "ok" and not a sacking reason but if i was the employer i would not be happy about it. It is much safer to keep your private life private IMO

[bednobs]

there have been at east 2 documented cases from ABers that i recall where they got suspended/sacked because of things they had put on their SM accounts.

[naomi24]

No. If you want to talk about it, don't talk to people you don't know. Talk to people you know care about you.

[Canary42]

If it helps, then yes, otherwise probably unwise.

[andy-hughes]

Sound advice all round.

You should avoid the modern obsession with making millions of strangers acquainted with parts of your life that should remain private.

Depression is nothing to be ashamed of, but it remains very much misunderstood in the wider world, and the notion of advising that you suffer from it, and then socialising and spreading your social activity around, sends mixed messages to an already confused readership.

If your boss interprets your ability to socialise as meaning that you are not sufficiently unwell that you cannot maintain your social activities, then he or she may decide that you are well enough to work, and therefore deserving of a serious look at your work ethic, and potential future as an employee.

I am not suggesting that this is a correct conclusion, but why create a situation beyond your control which can have harmful effects on your employment future.

Keep your medical status to trusted personal friends only, and that means people you know to speak to, not online 'friends', and if you are off sick from work, then don't flaunt your unconnected physical wellbeing on social media, leading people of influence to ponder about the veracity of your mental condition.

I distrust social media deeply, and this situation is exactly the sort of reason why.

[Prudie]

Genuine question- what symptoms of depression prevent someone working but they are still able to go out, have fun and socialise?
As for work caring it would depend on the employer. As for posting it on social media why the need?

[davebro]

wot's "social media" ?

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - // Genuine question- what symptoms of depression prevent someone working but they are still able to go out, have fun and socialise? //

Obviously there are many and varied degrees and types of Depression, but as a general rule, if you are actually suffering from Clinical Depression as diagnosed and treated by a medical practitioner, you are unlikely to be in any real state to socialse outside the home.

From personal experience, Depression renders you comatose and unwilling and often unable to communicate even in simple terms with anyone at all, isolation and peace are strong desires for the sufferer most of the time.

// As for work caring it would depend on the employer. As for posting it on social media why the need? //

Indeed - the most caring of employers would question any employee who is deemed unfit to work, but still able and willing to confirm social activity, regardless of the underlying cause of the medical absence.

It simply makes no sense to confirm endurance of a deeply damaging mental illness, and simultaneously advertise the ability to go out and have a good time, and then tell a world of strangers that you are doing so.

[Peter Pedant]

comes up every now and then
yes it is good to go out - and will raise mood
no it is not all right to boast about it on social media

and yes of course if the old grouch in Pay sees you
you may have questions to answer later

[ladybirder]

This is.

[davebro]

Maybe if going out is fine but work causes your depression you should get another job?

[Peter Pedant]

Hi Andy
yes we have had that at work a few times
too depressed to work
not too depressed to go out swimming

I thought that was obvious enough that I made the directors ( employers ) life difficult.

we had a senior with a wonky index finger ( OK ruptured tendon extensor indicis - sounz better in Latin innit). So he was signed off for 6 m (!) And phew ! he was well enough to stalk the corridors of Power ( whitehall, Richmond Hse and Elephant and Castle ) doing good all the way - - (for himself we cruelly added). god ! what wd the Minister have done without him?

[Prudie]

This is the thing, my perception of depression and others with little experience may be becquie off the mark. I do feel it's often a self-diagnosed illness when that's not the problem at all. Going out and exercising in the country for example is a recognised activity to help those with depression but standing in a pub with mates or in a restaurant and actually enjoying yourself is not surely.

If people can't face work that is probably a problem with work if life outside is still fine. That's not depression although it may be a related mental health issue such as anxiety.

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - // This is the thing, my perception of depression and others with little experience may be becquie off the mark. I do feel it's often a self-diagnosed illness when that's not the problem at all. Going out and exercising in the country for example is a recognised activity to help those with depression but standing in a pub with mates or in a restaurant and actually enjoying yourself is not surely.

If people can't face work that is probably a problem with work if life outside is still fine. That's not depression although it may be a related mental health issue such as anxiety. //

Forgive me for banging my personal drum, but this issue means a lot to me.

One of the major issues with Depression is the confusion over its meaning - which is why i always capitalise is to emphasise its status as a recogniseable condition, like cancer, and honestly about as serious.

When people hear the word 'depression', they think it's the same as being 'depressed' and it's not at all.

Being 'depressed' is part of the human condition, everyone feels it from time to time, and a change of scene, some exercise, a distraction like a film or music, can usually change it quite easily.

Depression is a deeply serious mental illness which pole-axes the sufferer and plunges them into a nightmare world where reality vanishes and the thought of continued existence in this state starts to make suicide look like a really attractive option.

It can be treated with medication sometimes in conjunction with therapy and support, but believe me, anyone who thinks that is like the occasional 'down' feeling of being depressed is way off the mark.

I firmly believe it should be re-named, to avoid the standard confusion I have outlined.

It should have a name that rings bells in the way that the word 'cancer' does - because it is every bit as traumatic and life-changing, but for now, I content myself with trying to adjust the thinking of people who happily, and amen to it, have no direct experience of this horrendous illness.

That's why, in my view, being diagnosed with Depression and then jaunting off on social media is foolish behaviour, and will only increase the disparity between society's perception of Depression, and the myriad other conditions that are stuck under its umbrella.

OK - rant over - thanks for reading.

[MissTerious]

Agree completely with Andy. Depression and Anxiety can't really be explained even if you suffer (as
I do). I don't mind people knowing. It's a serious illness and we all suffer differently. I can't even describe to anybody how awful it is.

[MissTerious]

I will say that when depressed I know going out would help but I simply can't do it and then I get more depressed.

[Peter Pedant]

// only increase the disparity between society's perception of Depression, and the myriad other conditions that are stuck under its umbrella.//

yeah but no but - illness behaviour in depression is because you're ill, not because you wish society to have one impression and not the other? - in other words depression isnt a social bahvioural construct, is it?

I know as I write that AB is not a suitable place to discuss well anything important

[andy-hughes]

I would discuss it Peter, if I had the faintest idea what you were talking about.

[jno]

what bednobs said. I'd shut up about it.