Career Depression: Can a wrong career lead to depression?

Is your job making you miserable? If the answer is yes, know that you are not alone. A staggering number of adults in the UK find themselves unhappy at work.

It’s important to understand that any job or career has the potential to leave you feeling deflated and unsatisfied.

Many of us fear choosing the wrong career path, because spending years trapped in the wrong job can leave you feeling angry, sad, stressed and even depressed.

To find out more about career depression and how to overcome it, keep reading.

What is career depression?

Career depression can be the result of feeling unmotivated, burdened and anxious about your current career choice.

It is not necessarily caused by a specific workplace or job environment, but rather the overall regret or unfulfillment of a career path.

Anybody can suffer from career depression. If you regret your career choice or feel you are on the wrong path, you are likely to feel unsatisfied at work, no matter what your job or industry.

Signs of career depression include workplace anxiety, social withdrawal, difficulty concentrating and loss of motivation.

How to overcome career depression

Evaluate your interests and skills

Whether you have attained an educational degree or are a graduate of the university of life, you are sure to have endless skills, abilities and interests that apply to multiple career paths.

Evaluate any aspects of your current career that you enjoy and would look for in any future job role. Combine these aspects with your interests to try and identify a suitable new path to follow. Sometimes there are careers available that would suit us perfectly but we don’t know exist so be open-minded when looking for a new career path.

See what your current workplace can offer you

If you are unhappy with your career but relatively happy with your workplace and company, it’s worth seeing what they can offer you during this difficult time.

They may ask how they can support and help you overcome your career depression. Even reducing the workload, putting you in charge of new exciting projects, or introducing Flexi-working could benefit you and your mental health.

Or they may even allow you to hot desk in various areas of the business to see where you feel most comfortable. Access to additional training may also be offered as a way to develop your skills, challenge your brain and help you onto a different career path. You never know, they might be able to offer you a new position in a different department.

Explore all your options

Often university degrees will point in the direction of an ‘obvious’ career, for example, a journalism degree points to becoming a journalist, but that’s not the only option.

With a journalism degree, you can also pursue a career in publishing, marketing, PR and law sectors. So, if you have a degree, research the other career paths you can enter and apply your current skillset to. Many universities have career help sections on their website which list potential career options to help get you started.

If you do not have a degree, why not research what undergraduate degrees would benefit you on the next step of your journey? Ensure to explore all the options available to you.

If you think you may want to consider a career change, why not consider training as a counsellor? See here on what you can do with a diploma in counselling or get in touch today to see how we can support you on your new career path.