Office Blues and Office Battleshock: Two Occupational Hazards

Every profession has its occupational hazards. Construction workers have to worry about falling, miners about being buried alive; chefs run the risk of burning or cutting themselves. You might think that people who sit and stare at a screen all day have no occupational hazards, but this is not the case. Office work carries with it, first of all, the risk of muscular-skeletal problems such as back and neck pain and carpal-tunnel syndrome. But the occupation hazards for office workers are not just physical. As a mental health professional, I’ve come to believe that the psychological hazards for office workers, especially those at the bottom of the pecking order, are formidable, largely because workers and employers alike tend to ignore their existence and thus do little to address them.

Without appropriate protective measures, workers in contemporary offices may fall prey to either or both of two psychiatric conditions which I call office blues and office battleshock. In DSM-IV terms, these conditions translate into “adjustment disorder with depressed mood.” “adjustment disorder with anxious mood” or “adjustment disorder with depressed and anxious mood.” Adjustment disorders are caused by environmental conditions or events, not merely by differences in brain wiring. A single painful event such as a death or a divorce may cause an adjustment disorder, but so may an ongoing, toxic situation such as a bad marriage - or a bad job. I believe many office workers suffer from eight-to-five adjustment disorders that they experience as a result of multiple psychological challenges, including confinement, inactivity, deprivation, disconnection, frustration, overwhelm, toxicity, and uncertainty. These people may be fine outside of the workplace, but when they’re at the office, they become symptomatic.

People with office blues are depressed when they’re at work, though they may be fine when they're not. They dread coming to the office and experience a sinking feeling when they walk in the door. They often feel tired, sad, hopeless, restless, or bored, and they watch the clock a lot. Nothing at work seems real to them -- they just have to “get through the day.” They often feel isolated from others and unable to relate to coworkers. Employees with office blues typically find the work they do unfulfilling and sometimes also unchallenging. Workers who don’t have enough to do may be at greater risk for office blues, though those who’ve been beaten down by bullies or unrealistic workloads may also fall prey to it. They may experience crying spells or rage episodes during their workdays and may try to comfort themselves by snacking or overeating and gain weight or by having an affair with a coworker that gets them into trouble.

I believe that the primary cause of office blues is not stress – though ongoing stress can also lead to blues – but deprivation, which may be sensory, emotional, or intellectual. Quite simply, the brain needs stimulation that it’s not getting and without which neurons begin to die. Many office workers spend their days in “sensory deprivation chambers” – to quote Dilbert – where walls and other surfaces are virtually colorless, decorations minimal, and nature – with its health-giving benefits – totally absent. Those who feel disconnected from coworkers as well as distant loved ones may suffer some of the same effects of emotional deprivation as babies who are never held or touched. Finally, intellectually gifted workers may also be at risk for depression if their hungry minds are given no substantive food to chew on. Thus, it’s not surprising that many office employees wind up with the blues.

To guard against office blues, ask yourself what types of stimulation are lacking during your workday and do anything you can to fill the gap. If you’re suffering from sensory deprivation, bring pictures, personal items, or plants to work and spend time outside whenever you can. If emotional deprivation is the problem, start looking for a soul-mate at work, try to connect with loved ones by phone or e-mail as often as possible, and keep a stuffed animal friend in an empty file drawer for emergency comfort. If your intellect feels starved, read poetry during your bathroom breaks, learn languages from ESL coworkers, attend lectures during your lunch hour, and talk to your boss about how you might best use your talents in your job. These are just a few ideas, but you get the gist of it.

While office blues has been around for centuries, office battleshock seems to have arisen – or at least dramatically worsened – in the last decades of the twentieth century as a result of downsizing, outsourcing, and the electronic revolution. People with office battleshock feel that bullets are raining down on them all the time they’re at work. They race through their days, unable to keep up. Unlike those with office blues, they rarely look at the clock, and when they do, it’s always later than they think. Overwhelmed by e-mails, frustrated by interruptions, constantly multitasking, and thrown into a panic by technological breakdowns, they’re never able to step off the treadmill long enough to get organized. Instead they try to solve everything by working faster and longer in a world that feels ever more nightmarish and unreal. Eventually, assuming they manage to keep their jobs, they may become either physically or mentally sick and wind up on medical leave.

Most people with office battleshock have unrealistic workloads while lacking the support or equipment they need to cope with them effectively. They may also be targets of bullying, discrimination, or sexual harassment and be terrified of losing their jobs. This makes it extremely difficult for them to concentrate on the task at hand, resulting in negative feedback, which makes concentration even more difficult.

Protecting yourself from office battleshock requires a dual approach: on the one hand, you need to optimize your organization, time management, and stress management skills; on the other, you need to communicate assertively with those in charge about your needs and start looking for another job if things don’t change. If your office life is completely out of control, it may be worth taking a few days off to rethink things even if it means you get more behind. It can also be helpful to keep a special type of work log called a Work Companion, which you can learn about in my new book, Making Peace with Your Office Life. The keyword here is “proactive.” People with office battleshock often react to whatever hits them at the moment rather than retaining control over their schedules using a planner and take whatever their bosses or coworkers dish out rather than standing up for themselves.

If you’re suffering from either office blues or office battleshock, it’s important to remember that these are environmentally induced conditions into which any of us can fall. You’re not crazy or stupid or lazy: you’re just in a tough situation, though you always have a choice about how you’ll deal with it.

Coming Next: Is Your Boss a Bully? How to know and how to survive