WP#1 Final Draft

Ryan MacNamara
ENG102 - Summer 2
WP#1 Final Draft
07/14/07



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 effects 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 multiple mental health related absences..If this happened to me, it is 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 not completely preventable, its impact in the workplace can be minimized. My research project will identify and explore how this can be done.


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 to me is a motivating factor for me as a researcher and as a writer. Research will come from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources will include the experiences of myself, a practicing psychologist, and a human resources manager for a publicly-owned, nationwide company. Secondary sources will primarily be academic and popular journals found using databases such as PsychINFO and PubMed. All research sources will be evaluated for accuracy and credibility. The initial research phase will be complete within 2 weeks, with 1 week devoted to drafting and revision.