If you’re depressed over your job search like so many other job seekers, know that there many ways to get help, as psychotherapist Isabella Mori writes.

This article is a guest post by Isabella Mori of Change Therapy. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.

Among career practitioners, we often speak of the “roller coaster of job search.” It looks like this:

Job Search Depression - Job Search Rollercoaster

Need I say more?

We’ve all been there, haven’t we?

If this is your story right now, why not just go back to watching Oprah in your pyjamas, accompanied with a big bowl of potato chips and maybe pick up the phone tomorrow to call up that lead that Joe gave you yesterday. Nah, tomorrow is not a good day. Maybe next week some time.

Sound familiar? If this happens to you, it’s possible you’re just procrastinating a bit, you’re resting for a few well-deserved days, or you’re just having an off-day.

Or – you’re depressed.

There’s those off days, and the job search blues – but if the pattern of lack of motivation, feeling utterly blah, unexplainable crying even, or other uncomfortable moods persist for more than two weeks, if the down parts of that rollercoaster last too long and happen too often, chances are you are in a depression.

The previous articles in this series have talked about causes and signs for depression. Let me talk a bit about what to do.

The good thing about depression – yes, there are a few good things about depression – is that often, there’s much that can be done, and I certainly can’t list all of them here. Today, I’d like to lean on the words of a fellow blogger, Emma McCreary, who commented on an article of mine, Two Views Of Depression, a little while ago and see how we can use her ideas to help with job search depression.

9 actions you can take today

  1. Identify cognitive distortions such as focusing on the negative (“Yes, I have a degree in accounting but last year I made I mistake on a spreadsheet!”) and deal with them.
  2. If you’ve been on anti-depressants before and they have helped, maybe it’s time to use them again – talk to your doctor!
  3. Don’t just “suffer it”; please realize that you have a right to feel serene and content, and nobody benefits from your feeling down.
  4. Share your experience with others, with your friends and family, with a local support group, or online.
  5. Visit a counselor; sometimes just one or two visits can make quite a difference.
  6. Practice meditation and relaxation.
  7. Educate yourself; read a book such as Listening to Depression.
  8. Recognize that depression is often a coping mechanism. Don’t reject your depression; accept your parts that look “broken.”
  9. Practice non-violent communication and learn to talk gently and compassionately to yourself.

About the author

Isabella Mori is Canada’s blogging psychotherapist. She blogs about psychology, creativity, spirituality and social justice over at Change Therapy and can be reached at moritherapy [at] shaw [dot] ca.

JobMob’s Job Search Depression Series

This article is the third in a 4-part series on job search depression.

  1. Causes of Job Search Depression and How To Prevent It
  2. Signs of Job Search Depression
  3. 9 Ways To Deal With Job Search Depression
  4. ERAN Gives You Emotional First Aid in Israel

No exit? Wrong. Subscribe to JobMob via RSS or email and follow me on Twitter and find out how to pull yourself up right.

--Jacob Share

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  Tags: depression, guest posts, Isabella-Mori, job search depression     Category Filed under: Must-Read Tips