High-stress jobs prove risk factors for depression

After six different jobs, Dody Crane finally found one she loves. \nSitting behind her makeup stand at Merle Norman Cosmetics in the Fountain Square Mall, she sharpens lip pencils and waits for customers to come in for a makeup consultation or to buy eyeliner.\nCrane didn’t always enjoy her job, though. When she worked at a chronic pain management facility, she found each day to be stressful and was relieved when it was time to go home.\n“It’s just that it was so crazy,” Crane said. “And I thought, ‘This is not for me,’ because I felt like I was starting to grow negative, and I didn’t want to be a negative person.”\nCrane is among many who feel stressful jobs have impacted their outlook on life. Since the 1970s, researchers from King’s College London have been conducting a study on residents of Dunedin, New Zealand, and they recently found high-pressure jobs can cause major psychiatric problems for workers in their early 30s.\nAlmost half of anxiety and clinical depression cases are caused by long hours, lack of clear direction, demanding supervisors and high workloads, according to the study. The study found 14 percent of women and 10 percent of men with no previous history of psychiatric problems experienced anxiety or clinical depression at age 32 if they were working in high-pressure jobs. These workers were also 75 to 80 percent more likely to suffer from depression or anxiety disorders than people with low-pressure jobs. \nFor Crane, the most stress came from the disorganization.\n“The facility when I went in there ... wasn’t organized,” Crane said. “They weren’t even \ncollecting co-pays.” \nIU counseling and educational psychology professor Susan Whiston said sometimes there isn’t a good match between the worker and the job, and if the organization doesn’t support the worker, he or she \nwon’t succeed.\nPeople want to hang in there, but sometimes they just have to admit to themselves that they are not having fun and their life is not good, said Bloomington psychologist \nSteve Curtis.\nCrane accepted this fact and decided to quit her job at the chronic pain facility. \n“You knew it would never change,” Crane said.\nWhen work stress becomes difficult to handle, it can be treated through medication or therapy, but Curtis said the best way to deal with anxiety is to change habits rather than cover up stress with anti-depressants. It’s like having a nail in one’s shoe, Curtis said. One can numb the foot or take the nail out.\nCurtis suggested consuming less caffeine, which can increase anxiety levels, and consuming less sugar. The surge of sugar causes a high that comes to a sudden end, leaving the person feeling drained. \nHe also recommended that people visualize succeeding at a goal rather than imagining everything that can go wrong. The more someone visualizes a certain outcome, the more likely it is to happen, Curtis said.\nCrane decided to give up her benefits, retirement and insurance to buy a store from a friend. She works most days, doing makeup, piercing ears and waxing eyebrows.\n“I never dreamed of having my own business,” Crane said.\nEven though it was stressful to deal with money and learn budgeting, Crane said for the most part, her days are stress-free. Her biggest stressor recently was getting holiday decorations up in time to leave for vacation. But this type of stress is OK and even fun for her.\n“It’s just wonderful,” Curtis said. “I love being back in the beauty business again.”