Unemployment Can Be Depressing: 5 Strategies to Re-Energize You

 It's no secret that unemployment can be depressing.   For many, the initial news can be followed by days of laying on the couch eating cheetos and watching TV.  Perhaps you just can't believe that you no longer have somewhere to go in the morning.   And the idea of putting in the energy to get another job sounds overwhelming. characterized by numbness, disbelief and even lethargy.   While for most people this period is a pretty natural response to loss, you can take one of the many online depression tests or seek help from a qualified mental health counselor if you feel like it is seriously disrupting your life.  For those who are experiencing mild depression, this article offers some tips on how to move forward.

Bruce Levine, Ph.D. argues, in his book Surviving America's Depression Epidemic that, as a nation, we are drowning in depression.  We have become so disconnected from each other and from the world around us that it is hard to keep our heads above water even when we are working.   The high rates of anti-depressant medications that people take (maybe as high as one in eight people) are a good sign of this.   Working helps distract many of us from the emptiness we are feeling so losing our work can be a real wake up call.  For others, their identity is built around their work so being unemployed is like not being a person.