WP#1 draft 1

Ryan MacNamara
WP#1 Draft 1
July 10, 2007



Depression is a mental disorder that goes far beyond the natural human feeling of sadness. All humans feel sad from time to time as part of our natural emotional repertoire. Depression, however, is a medical disorder with its root cause in imbalanced chemicals in the brain. It is characterized by extended periods of hopelessness and other severe negative thoughts. Depression will effect about 1 in 10 people, and has been referred to as “the common cold of mental illness”*. When someone in our workforce catches a cold or is otherwise physically sick, they get less work done, are late for work, or possibly miss work altogether. Their overall productivity is lessened, and money may need to be spent for treatment. Depression is no different. With the frequency of depressive incidents being reported*, large amounts of money are being lost to reduced productivity in the workplace. As consumers, we know that when companies lose money, we tend to pay higher prices for products and services. Therefore, this money lost not only affects business, but consumers as well. How can the effect of depression in the workplace be minimized?

In early 2000, a university psychiatrist diagnosed me as suffering from “major recurring depression”. Although the frequency of this disorder may be on par with the common cold, its severity can be much more devastating. I recovered after following a year of prescribed treatment, and didn’t have another episode until late 2006. This time I did not seek treatment, and ended up losing my job because of absenteeism, read as not leaving my bed. If this happened to me, its happening to many other people in the working world. I’ve talked with family members and friends who have voiced similar concerns about their mood (whether disordered or not) effecting their work. From my experience with the disorder, I know that while it may not be able to be completely prevented, measures in the workplace can be taken to minimize its impact. My research project will identify and explore these measures.

The research project will be directed towards members of the world’s workforce, and to a limited extent, the academic community. A prime audience target is those in decision-making positions for organizations, companies and corporations. After spending 3 years in retail management, I know this information will be valuable to middle management by helping them cut down the incidence of absenteeism and low productivity due to this debilitating disorder. When workers miss work or have decreased output, workers suffer, management suffers, and consumers suffer. Workers want to be at work to get paid, management wants work to get done, and consumers want to be able to buy products and services at reasonable prices. This research will also benefit students by helping them avoid missed schoolwork because of the disorder.

Researching and writing this project is an opportunity to take a personal experience and turn it into information that can be directly helpful to many people. The knowledge that one or many people will be able to avoid what happened is a motivating factor for me as a researcher and as a writer. My research on the topic has already begun, and will take place over the next one to two weeks. Research sources will be varied and examined to ensure they are accurate and credible. Following the main research period, a first draft will be constructed and subjected to multiple revisions. The final paper will be completed in approximately 4 weeks, and will include a full bibliography.