About half of Atlantic Canadians suffering from depression are worried co-workers think they aren’t interested in their jobs, a survey from Leger Marketing said.
That misunderstanding could cost people their jobs, according to the survey released yesterday, which says 25 per cent of Canadians polled feel they have lost a job because of their depression.
And 79 per cent of the respondents worried their depression symptoms could cost them their jobs in the current economic climate.
Depression affects performance on the job, something which people often forget, Dr. Howard Conter, a family doctor in Halifax, said yesterday.
“It’s not just a matter of sitting at home and being sad,” Conter said. “Being depressed affects basically every part of your life, personal, work or out in society and I think that’s what this study backs up extremely well.”
Conter said that he wasn’t surprised by the results of the survey. “(Depression) requires aggressive treatment and cooperation between the patient, the physician and the workplace,” he said.
Results
• The survey used a random sample of 802 people with depression and 150 physicians. The results have a margin of error of +/- 3.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The complete survey results weren’t available to media yesterday.
