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If you’ve been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety, isolation can make your symptoms even worse. We're a fully remote telehealth company that provides access to high-quality mental health resources. While working from home may sound like a luxury to commuters craving a reprieve from the daily trek into the office, all that alone time may be taking a toll on employees’ health. If your quality of life is suffering from working at home or you’d like to speak with someone about depression, consider online therapy.
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 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. At the end of the study, more than half of the volunteers chose not to work at home 100% of the time.
Work depression
So, if you’re already 1 of the 264 million people worldwide who live with depression, in theory, working from home could intensify your symptoms. But if you feel isolated, have a hard time turning “off” your work brain, and you’re balancing deadlines while taking care of small children, you may be more likely to develop some form of depression. If you’re connected with your co-workers, your work demands are the same as they used to be, and you have a working environment you feel comfortable in, your chances of developing depression may be lower. This is natural, particularly if you’re still adjusting to this lifestyle. Read about five affordable therapy options and other ways to access mental healthcare. Read tips from seven freelancers to manage stress and mental health when working from home.

Healthcare professionals are trained in treating depression and can help you understand your symptoms and how to manage them better. The two main goals when managing depression are to lean on your support networks and to increase the amount of serotonin in your brain. A lot of research has been done and while medication can be helpful, there are many other ways to help manage symptoms as well. Socializing is a very important aspect of daily life and helps fight off, as well as treat, depression.
Limit your screen time as much as possible
A 2015 study found that social isolation, whether real or imagined, can increase the risk of early death. For some people, working from home improves mental health or has no impact on existing depression symptoms. For others, working from home could add symptoms to the list, including anxiety and chronic stress. There’s an abundance of resources available for people who feel they may be experiencing depression, or who simply want to seek out more information for their mental health and personal well-being.
Furthermore, home stress can often more easily spill over into work life in a work from home scenario, leading to feelings of anxiety. There is a need for this research because the pandemic is still ongoing, and we continue to be at risk for future pandemics. This knowledge is valuable to support university efforts focused on improving the mental health of college students. Some common disadvantages of working from home are too many opportunities to take breaks, lack of social interaction, and a feeling of lack of involvement in company decisions. These are all things that can leave us feeling stressed, isolated, and exhausted — which can have negative effects on our overall mental health. With social distancing guidelines in place, a lot of us have been working from home.
Therapy
Extensive research shows that the outcomes of working from home are contradictory. Some studies report that working from home improves mental well-being. Depression may make it difficult to accomplish the simplest of tasks.
Most coffee shops, bookstores and similar establishments offer free WiFi with any purchase , and don’t mind if you spend a few hours on a laptop in their space. Interacting with your cashier, and possibly a handful of strangers in a busy environment, could be what you need to establish new weak ties and stave off loneliness. So, it’s reasonable to assume that letting more employees work from home will reduce office expenses, commute times and greenhouse gas emissions attributable to daily commutes. But working from home could also have negative consequences for your state of mind … especially in the long term. One of the most dangerous symptoms of depression is the risk of suicide.
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We rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We strive to use primary sources and refrain from using tertiary references. You may need to take antidepressants for up to eight weeks before you start noticing a difference in your depressive symptoms. There are many different types of talk therapy, but research suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy may be right for treating depression. The keto diet offers a lot of benefits for your bod — but is mental health one of them? Depression can stem from a variety of causes, including genetic predisposition, illness, or a bad breakup or other significant life change.

Psychotherapy is considered a frontline treatment for depression, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America . Even if you have high-functioning depression, and some of your symptoms may be harder to spot, deep sadness may lie just beneath the surface. This is partly because everyone’s experience is different, and many other factors can be involved in how you feel. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.
According to a Pew Research survey, before the pandemic, only 1 in 5 people reported that they worked from home. And over half of them said that, given a choice, they’d want to keep working from home even after the pandemic. There’s also some evidence that, for certain jobs, having the option to work from home can increase productivity and quality. Some think that this can cause mental health issues, like depression. The truth is that there isn’t any firm research that supports this. And while working from home has many perks (see ya, commute!), it can also lead to feelings of isolation.
You can receive help by talking to a colleague or visiting the manager’s office. There are many different types of therapy for depression including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Each of these therapies approaches depression in unique ways and your healthcare professional can tailor your treatment to your personal needs. If you’re not ready to reach out at work, make an appointment with a doctor or mental health professional.