Interesting Article. Unemployed?

Unemployment can 'really do a number' on emotional health and self confidence

Jennie L Phipps | MLive.com Contributor
Published: Oct 10, 2011 5:31 PM




One of the side effects of long-term unemployment is often depression -- occasionally deadly depression.

Kim Cameron, professor of management and organization at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, researched this issue for about 10 years. One of his research projects involved interviewing people in executive positions who had lost their jobs. He tells this story about it:

"In one instance there were nine people from one company, all of them over age 55 and all of them making more than $500,000 a year. All of them lost their jobs and assumed they would get others immediately. But they quickly learned that nobody wanted to hire someone with 30 years experience and that kind of salary.

"Six of those men committed suicide in one year. It was contagious and so shocking," Cameron said.

Cameron also talks about another person in one of his studies, a successful salesman who told researchers that when he first began job hunting that he thought, "I'm a pretty good salesperson and I feel like I'm reasonably marketable. I began going out and applying for jobs. People would say, 'You're way overqualified. I would go to be interviewed, and I wouldn't get the job. Cognitively, I understood that I wasn't exactly what they're looking for, but emotionally, it felt like a personal rejection.

"I got to the point where I didn't think I could apply for one more job because I didn't think I could hear one more rejection. I had to fight to get out of bed, let alone put on clean clothes and behave like human being. I was emotionally exhausted. I didn't have the energy to do anything."

Cameron says this subject of the study was a talented, well-credentialed person, but "unemployment really did a number on his emotional health and self-confidence."

What happened in the end? Ultimately, Cameron said, the man began working with an employment agency in hopes they could help him. The agency was so impressed, they hired him.

Some people have a more difficult time than others dealing with unemployment, Cameron's research tells him. "Some individuals have a very difficult time moving on from past experiences. They define themselves based on what their title was. It's the classic example of the guys sitting around talking about the glory days of high school -- living back then vs. people who can say, 'I'll redefine myself and I'll create something new," he says.

Cameron isn't a psychologist, but his years of experience researching unemployment have led him to believe that there are three factors that are important for people trying to avoid unemployment-related depression and create a new life for themselves.

Find purposeful and meaningful activities -- even if they aren't isn't job related. If you don't feel like you have meaning in either your work life or your personal life, you are at risk for serious depression. If you can't find a paying, career-enhancing position, then take a volunteer job doing something you find satisfying.
Lean on your social support system. In the best of all possible worlds, you'd have a loving partner who would be supportive. Lacking that, develop other kinds of positive relationships -- even if you have to join a support group to find them.
Get encouraging guidance. Find somebody who is positive and upbeat to encourage you and give you feedback about your search. This could be a minister or a life coach -- someone who is expert at mitigating self-pity and depression.


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