And The Most Depressing Jobs Are ...

Workers In Restaurants And Personal Care Have Highest Depression Rates, Study Says

(AP)  People who tend to the elderly, change diapers and serve up food and drinks have the highest rates of depression among U.S. workers.

Overall, 7 percent of full-time workers battled depression in the past year, according to a government report available Saturday.

Women were more likely than men to have had a major bout of depression, and younger workers had higher rates of depression than their older colleagues.

Almost 11 percent of personal care workers - which includes child care and helping the elderly and severely disabled with their daily needs - reported depression lasting two weeks or longer.

During such episodes there is loss of interest and pleasure, and at least four other symptoms surface, including problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration and self-image.

Workers who prepare and serve food - cooks, bartenders, waiters and waitresses - had the second highest rate of depression among full-time employees at 10.3 percent.

In a tie for third were health care workers and social workers at 9.6 percent.

The lowest rate of depression, 4.3 percent, occurred in the job category that covers engineers, architects and surveyors.

Government officials tracked depression within 21 major occupational categories. They combined data from 2004 through 2006 to estimate episodes of depression within the past year. That information came from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which registers lifetime and past-year depression bouts.

Depression leads to $30 billion to $44 billion in lost productivity annually, said the report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. To read the full report, click here.

The various job categories tracked could be quite broad, with employees grouped in the same category seemingly having little in common.

For example, one category included workers in the arts, media, entertainment and sports. In the personal care category, a worker caring for toddlers at a daycare center would have quite a different job from a nursing aide who helps an older person live at home rather than in a nursing home.

Just working full-time would appear to be beneficial in preventing depression. The overall rate of depression for full-time workers, 7 percent, compares with the 12.7 percent rate registered by those who are unemployed.

[rushlimpdrug]

This story made me so sad I can''t get myself to cook. Think I''ll eat out tonight.

[hypnotoad72]

Given age discrimination that goes on, I''m amazed older workers aren''t the ones getting depressed. Especially in the IT field where it''s said, often on IT-centric news sites, age discrimination runs rampant.

Never mind offshoring; there are plenty of jobs in many industries where they hire people part time just to circumvent health care and other regulations. (It''s amazing how everything keeps boiling down to gaffes running rampant in the health care industry.)

I''m mostly amazed by the fairly small number of unemployed people who are depressed. They are probably hiding the depression, because an employer is not going to want anybody with even the slightest issue. Or that''s how it appears to be, my perception could be inaccurate.

[ssm9451]

Perhaps the depression manifests itself due to having a low income position. If we are unable to provide for our selves or our families, that could make any one become dispressed.

[ladyephesus1]

I agree. Im a single mother and when I cannot provide everything my children need, I do tend to get depressed and have battled it for years. With inflation the way it is, you can hardly travel to get out anymore because of gas prices and its just expensive to raise children altogether. I am a thrift store shopper and a coupon clipper and still have a hard time saving money for anything.

[missingamerica]

Oh, great. You''re most likely to get depressed in those jobs that are among the only ones where employment is projected to expand...

[tnt1954]

i took care of my senile, incontinent grandma
for six years. she had been so kind to take
care of me when i was a kid. it was the only
decent thing i could do for her. it was hard
on my stomach to say the least. the most depressing
job of all is sewer inspector. ugggh!! god forbid
a major pipeline should burst. backed up toilets?
oh, yeeeccchy!! we used to have a septic tank.
it overflowed every fall and winter with the rain.
oh, ugh. and here comes global freezing after
a rather long, hot summer. poor homeless
people in the snow. so that''s another 3 million
immigrants to california. come one come all.
might as well. i was born in los angeles.
its very rare to meet a native californian.
oddly enuff.

[jetranger7]

I hope I don''t give the wrong impression here, not pointing to anybody in particular, but as tough as it is today to make a living, and get ahead, and provide for yourself and your future, I''m wondering, why so many young girls think having Kids will change everything ? Don''t they realize how hard and difficult it is, not only to raise them, but to also provide for them on a low wage salary, what are they thinking, moneys just gonna fall from the sky because they have a kid and everythings just gonna be hunky dory ? I see way too many young women from 18 to 30 with kids, and they''re single, without a father, or, with a boyfriend whos not the father and doesn''t have a decent job with benefits or no job at all, or worse yet, a boyfriend with a prision record and still no job, and even worse yet, the woman with the kid or kids with no job, and it doesn''t make any difference what race they are, it seems everywhere, what were they thinking or are they thinking ??? Why do they want to make life so hard for themselves at an early age and force themselves into poverty for years to come, and miss many opportunities trying to raise kids at their young age ?? I just don''t get the mentality, or the jest of this, what are they thinking????

[cdfoxtrot]

Looks maybe like jobs requiring creativity or those where you have control over what you do are those with the lowest depression rates.

[tnt1954]

there are some real depressing jobs out there.
that have to be done by someone. i think
the worst would be body bagger in iraq. the guys
who have to come clean up after a bombing.
yeccch! and they are probably getting shot at
while they do the cleanup. being a soldier on
the front line, would be very depressing. or how
about you work in a morgue. deal with stiffs all
day or night. or like you''re like the dude who
go picks up the dead in the middle of the night.
that would just be too much. why guys that work
in nightclubs must have a blast compared to those
guys. strippers, the love industry? how boys
who model underwear? i''m some jobs that are
so stupid even a moron could do it. or how
about being a catholic priest who hears confessions
and problems all day long, and gets accused of
all kinds of crazy stuff by crazy people all day that
wanna get in touch with their long lost relatives
in heaven? and you have to comfort the bereaved,
and hear all about each bereaved persons life.
wouldn''t it kinda ''get to ya''?

[tnt1954]

one of the more depressing jobs,
causing abject cynicism is that of journalist or
writer or artist or musician or actress. only
a very few make it to the top. there''s not room
for too many at the top. you have to be the
deliverer of bad tidings. no news is good news,
but there is always plenty of news. and you often
get accused of causing the news to happen, so
you can have news to report. i never could figure out why people
eat dinner while watching the news on tv.
the tv is like the old fireplace used to be?
and people in the news business have to worry
about ratings all the time, and deadlines and
pressures.
sometimes they have a rather mischievious grin
on their face and talk in a laconic manner sometimes.
creative writing is more fun, you can make it
all have a happy, hollywood ending. and they
lived happily ever after. the world psychiatric
association still feels that medication is the
answer for world peace. i feel they are delusional.
there is no pill for peace. maybe a pill of knowledge, by which we may be instantly educated.
a walking encyclopedia, just from taking a pill.
i don''t care how many anti-depressant, anti-psychotic
medications you have in your arsenal against the
''problems'' of individuals and groups, its not
going to make the food grow faster, people be happier,
or people more sane. you still cannot prove beyond
the shadow of a reasonable doubt, that thought and mood
r just a bio-chemical process in the brain.

[robertkjjj]

What about if you had to change diapers on engineers and architects? What about that? Would you then be depressed half the time and happy the other half? Well?

[zootallures2]

I doubt it is the job. It''s the people you have to work with in those jobs. What famous inventor or engineer was also a serial killer? Most people who do social work are sadists and perverts. Fast food and low paying jobs are full of the George Bush supporting trailer park tribe. They should all be lured to the Jerry Springer show and killed. Then nice people won''t be depressed having to be surrounded and out numbered by these worthless sadistic nuts.

[grammawhamma]

Posted by JetRanger7 at 12:45 AM : Oct 14, 2007

There are key words in your post that kind of answer your question. The first is "young". The second is "think". Young kids don''t think of the future they think of the now. Maybe these girls are lonely and feel unloved and think that a baby will get the guy (dad) to like them more...or the baby will be cute and cuddly and love them (kind of like a little puppy). When they have the little baby...people will "ohhhh and ahhhh" over it therefore giving the mom attention. They have no clue that they are in for a lifetime job that will or should change their life forever.

[Krazcarl]

Why I got out of nursing all politics the staff has to carry out but decent pay there stuck there if they quit nothing but low level jobs,not all it''s cracked up to be, food+drink service the lowest end on the ladder alot of folks first job was mine there desperate will take anything just mostly alcholics now and low lifes or ladies with problems that LOVE to tell you about them nor great pay so what do you expect. Now I''m a repo man great job fair pay great boss great hours never ever thought I''d do this{delinquet storage units}.

[iceman_1960]

"Workers who prepare and serve food - cooks, bartenders, waiters and waitresses - had the second highest rate of depression among full-time employees at 10.3 percent."

Remember this the next time you"re in a bar or restaurant.

Leave a decent tip.

Not some measely 15%. Go for 30%, 35%.

Put a smile on that poor waitress''s face.

[iceman_1960]

RE: "What famous inventor or engineer was also a serial killer?"

Whoever it was who invented napalm.

[iceman_1960]

Louis Fieser.

"Napalm is any of a number of flammable liquids used in warfare, often jellied gasoline. Napalm is actually the thickener in such liquids, which when mixed with gasoline makes a sticky incendiary gel. Developed by the U.S. in World War II by a team of Harvard chemists led by Louis Fieser, its name is a combination of the names of its original ingredients, coprecipitated aluminum salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. These were added to the flammable substance to cause it to gel."

[iceman_1960]

"Fast food and low paying jobs are full of the George Bush supporting trailer park tribe. They should all be lured to the Jerry Springer show and killed."
- Posted by zootallures2 at 04:06 AM : Oct 14, 2007

LOL !!

If Jerry Springer were a liberal like that nice Oprah Winfrey, he wouldn"t be staging those ugly lowlife brawls.

He"d be offering Book Club recommendations like she does, and giving free cars to members of the audience.

And of course he"d be backing Barack Obama.

[iceman_1960]

Gravedigger.

That has to be a depressing job.

[grazinggoat]

Gravedigger.

That has to be a depressing job.
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 09:09 AM : Oct 14, 2007

-What do you need to have as training? Shovel handler attestation, backhoe handler certificate or WWF (WorldWrestling Federation) diploma? LOL!

[tnt1954]

i see that laughter therapy is making you less
depressed. norman cousins wrote that book. it
was his idea of how to get well and stay well.
but what if you have cracked ribs? a real rib-tickler?
the most depressing job of all is that of
professional patient. the job of the person
who makes doctors and owners of nursing homes
and hospitals filthy rich. or the job of hypochondriac. the person who has to be taken
care of, all the time. like stephen hawkins,
a great mind. or people who long to be stars
in the special olympics, fully delusional thinking
that people ought to pay big money to see them play.
way more than the regular olympics or regular
sports. why yes,we''re lined up for miles
to see girls in wheelchairs play basketball.
that''s how it should be, don''t you think rush limbaugh, that''s how it oughta be. yeah, rush
we should all be just as full of bush as you.
and flush. why my pay toilet idea, made
me a multi-billionaire. includes taxes too.
would pay off the national debt.

[iceman_1960]

Dental hygienist -- is that the most depressing job ?

Handling those tongue depressors day in and day out... that has to be depressing.

[whispyseas]

'' ... most disciplinary action goes to kids age 5 & less as they commit most crimes, though are most likely to suffer injury or death as a result of discipline ... ''

'' ... the lord sang scream my name & blame everyone but yourself, & dared kids sang scream our names & blame everyone but yourselfs ... ''

'' ... 300 hike naked dance dressed folk in 300 days to 300 weeks visiting up to 36 sick beds and 36 villages each night dancing get well feed world songs rallied around 100s millions sick beds drifting 10s millions spore bloom weed dragon trail fickle first aid lunch farm cottage studio trail crossing yseedsberry trail groups can assemble 90,000 little museums of medical you are here map song dance skit kit and still squeeze in up to 20 minutes each day of danceing porno get sick tax world songs ... ''

'' ... i threw grown men off backs of dragons to break all their bones, landing them in seaweeds that venomize them to keep them live for surgical recovery, it turned me on ... though they were all volunteers that enjoy that ... but everyone does it now and then, even grown men ... ''

'' ... one little naked girl on a newsdesk and the world is full of naked girls on newsdesks, one little armed dressed boy on a newsdesk, and the world is full of armed dressd boys on newsdesks ... ''

[kiwi_chick]

just when i was thinking how insightful and thoughtful and dead on some of these posts were...those freaking idiots whispyseas and stopiraq butted in to ruin my reading pleasure. How freaking depressing.

[downtowner97]

The best cure for depression is exercise. Ask your doctor if getting off your asss is right for you!!!

[staycalm]

When I was in school I was depressed because I never felt I was popular enough and my parents were always fighting. When I worked full time I was depressed because I never got the hang of office politics and usually ended up on the wrong side of them. When I got married and had kids I was depressed because I worried constantly about my kids and fought constantly with my alcoholic husband who didn''t work. I find most modern movies to be depressing - a lot of action, violence and loveless *** - as well as modern music, particularly rap which is the same as the movies. Now I alone take care of my eighy six and ninety year old parents while my brother and his kids steal everthing out of their house. Any suggestions?

[iceman_1960]

"The best cure for depression is exercise. Ask your doctor if getting off your asss is right for you!!!"
- Posted by downtowner97 at 03:22 PM : Oct 14, 2007

This is so true.

It can be a vicious circle, since depressed people lack the energy to begin an exercise program, but exercise has been shown to be as effective as anti-depressant medications, and without the nasty side effects of the latter.

Source:

"(Reuters) Exercise on par with drugs for aiding depression"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070919/hl_nm/exercise_depression_dc_1

[gretagreen]

Hi Staycalm:
I''d be depressed too if I was in your situation. See if you can change it so you''re not caring for your elderly parents by yourself. Also, go to a doctor and see if there is a physical component to your depression with which he/she can help.
Good luck!

[gretagreen]

The jobs associated with depression appear to are be low-paying. Maybe that''s more of a cause of the depression than the job itself. It''s depressing to be poor.

[bb19631]

The wages are not the problem. The same old routine over and over again, day in and day out. Work burn out also is a contributing factor. The ungrateful people we take care of, the ungrateful family members. We work 2 weeks without a day off. Mentally and physically burned out. The gas mileage we rack up. The mileage on our cars. We have our own families to take care of, no one sees that. We are not home health aides, we are personal slaves. We are doing a service. If anyone cares.....

[middleman8]

Everyone eventually learns,
LIFE IS HARD THEN YOU DIE.

[usayesterday]

The service industry sucks!

No other industry in the world pays so little to people who work the hardest... mostly for... OTHER PEOPLE! The prospects of moving up the "lader" is pathetic at best. So one may become a general manager of a particular store/restaurant location, that simply translates to "King Turdd of ***** Island."

So many people disrespect those who wait on us/serve us by calling them names, yelling at them because they took longer than 5 seconds to bring us our food or beverage.

It is no wonder that so many of the workers in the service industry have depression or serious bouts of depression at one time or another. It certainly explains why the vast majority of them smoke like a train, at every break they get. It''s the only narcotic release that people have during work hours. People whom I''ve worked with in the past would light up two cigs within their 5-minute break, especially if they had just dealt with a real SOB of a customer.

[l8c6]

USAyesterday

But that''s what we are now. A service society serving the other half, the information society.

[simpleguy234]

People in the service industry get absolutely ZERO respect from the majority of those who never have worked there before. It seems this might be cause by the fact that other industries are so routine and every day goes the same. I''ve been in line late night at a gas station when quite a few people showed up at once. I heard people in line bashing the cashier for not moving fast enough when a half drunk guy kept requesting different cigarettes. Others were saying it was poor management for not having more people there. These people all of the sudden think they know everything about the business. 99% of the time this line wouldn''t have been like this, so is the manager supposed spend thousands of dollars a year in labor on the what if? The guy with the degree and the desk job like theirs wont let that happen. Everyone needs to back off and realize that in the service industry, things ARE NOT ROUTINE, and you have to deal with that - dont take it out on the workers who are busting their butts for minimum wage.

[tnt1954]

staycalm i have no suggestions. i was a child
actor growing up till i was 14, when i had
health problems. it was very surrealistic
all the time. the constant backbiting, jockeying
for position in the race to the top. stabs
in the back. weird hours. you''re in a different
century on the set or on location, you come
off it, and you wonder where you are. its suddenly
1960 and you were just in 1920, dressed like it too.
it really weirds people out. thank god i left
show biz at age 14. and then there''s the music
business, even weirder. did that for awhile too.
women hitting on you, their husbands or boyfriends
want to kill you, people out in the parking lot
wanna beat the *** out of ya, just for fun.
drunks everywhere. its terrible. no money or
ya got robbed. why bother. people stoned outta
their minds. awful. so a job taking care of
elderly parents is totally groovy. i do that
now too. and get ssi. and medicaid. its the answer.
peace.

[tnt1954]

the job of king is no picnic either. people
out to throw ya off the throne. in fact
there is no good job. they are all depressing.
in fact work itself is depressing. see if you
can get arrange to get ssi for depression then
you can stop working and you won''t be depressed
anymore. ironic isn''t it.

[hwy71so]

Man, what a bummer...

[jetlizhan]

snidegrass -

you sound life a very interesting person who''s had a ''colorful'' life. hope you''re happy, because that''s all that''s important.

[iceman_1960]

RE: "The service industry sucks!"

That''s what Monica Lewisnky says about interning also.

[klingon69]

Developed by the U.S. in World War II by a team of Harvard chemists led by Louis Fieser, its name is a combination of the names of its original ingredients, coprecipitated aluminum salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. These were added to the flammable substance to cause it to gel."
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 08:24 AM : Oct 14, 2007

And don''t forget the White Phosphurous(sp) igniter

[klingon69]

"King Turdd of ***** Island."

Throne located in the "white-tile" room.

[teejbowles]

I am not certain where you obtained your information about the most depressing jobs, but you could not be more incorrect. I have worked in the Human Service industry for over 16 years and know for certain it is one of the most rewarding careers available. It is an honor to share a day with a child or a disabled person, and to be paid for it is a blessing. There is no "job" greater than that of one who teaches, and the rewards and sense of accomplishment are far greater than simply closing a great deal or cashing a large paycheck(that will most likely be spent on junk that is insignificant as well.) Workers I know rarely call in sick to work, because they are aware of the vital services they provide. These workers are paid above minimum wage and society is fortunate to have such a dedicated group of people to perform the tasks deemed "beneath" them. Changing a diaper, teaching a child to walk, exploring the world, listening to what they have to say, and just being there for them is what they need most, though few parents are willing to give these. The best "job" I''ve ever had was body surfing, attending amusement parks, getting to act like a child and spending 13 years of time with my own children. Can''t believe I was actually paid to do it. Tough "job", but someone has to do it! Now I work with disabled adults and the "job" is more rewarding than any thus far. Perhaps a significant pay raise would pull us out of our "depression", though no one I know is in this business for the money.