Given the current state of how the average person navigates the workforce today, it’s almost expected that we will all experience unemployment at some point. There’s an uncertainty that accompanies unemployment itself, especially if it’s an unplanned event such a the company you work for goes out of business, has to downsize or your employment was terminated due to performance related reasons. The structure of employment tends to provide a sense of self worth through the act of being reliant on yourself to provide a means of living for you or your family. When this is involuntarily taken away, some people feel as if their self worth is taken away with it.
Self Doubt
Then the act of having to find another job through seemingly endless rejection can bring about a feeling about your lack of self worth being true. Even the grind of searching for work requires putting on your best display of yourself and having that ignored or rejected feels like your best isn’t good enough, even though it simply may not have anything to do with how skilled and talented you actually are. Still, the continued pressure that comes with rejection can lead to depression. This song and dance of finding employment leading to depression is bad on it’s own and it’s important to be optimistic and motivated. For some. the depression can be overwhelming which creates for certain people an reason to drug and alcohol use to self medicate for that feeling of a loss of self agency.
This situation isn’t as unique as it might feel considering societal views and media presentations on economic situations that are prescribed. No matter whether there’s an economic downturn or not, pressures of both your immediate ability to get work and the typical views of society that place the blame entirely on yourself for not having a job are felt by anyone who is in that position. The longer the unemployment lasts, the more time depression and anxiety surrounding your job search have time to set into motion perpetual depression. Many people who face depression will turn to alcohol, antidepressants and painkillers to cope.
Self Defeat
When depression and anxiety turn into self medication, the possibility of addiction becomes a higher risk for that person. Abusing substances in this way can interfere with the actions needed specifically to raise oneself out of unemployment. It becomes, sadly, a self fulfilling prophecy and perpetual cycle. Depending on the substances used and the companies applied to, even the presence of drugs in your system can prevent employment due to that company’s policies toward drug use at all, continuing the cycle of unemployment and depression caused by the unemployment itself.
If you find yourself slipping down a spiral of depression due to unemployment coupled with substance abuse, it’s important to break the cycle. Professional treatment at Discovery New Jersey can help you to regain the confidence and control to get back on your feet. Contact us today to learn more.
Dr. Joseph Ranieri D.O. earned his BS in Pharmacy at Temple University School of Pharmacy in 1981 and His Doctorate Degree in Osteopathic Medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1991. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine Addiction Certification. Dr. Ranieri has lectured extensively to physicians, nurses, counselors and laypeople about the Disease of Addiction throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 2012.
