The Korea Times: More Office Workers Suffer Mental Illness

By Bae Ji-sook

Staff Reporter

With the business world becoming ever more complex and competitive, more people are suffering from various mental illnesses due to work-related stress, government data showed Wednesday. While women tended to suffer more human relation-related problems at work, men were seen to be more vulnerable to the stress of work itself.

The number of those diagnosed with depression or other mental illnesses has steadily risen. It jumped to 354,221 in 2007 up from 163,213 in 2000, according to the National Health Insurance Corp.

Competition among peers ㅡ thriving for promotion or having to achieve various work-related targets ㅡ drove office workers to severe stress. Researchers classed this as ``Acute Stress.''

``The key reason to mental disease is stress. Workers should always try to effectively control their workload
and tell themselves not to rush,'' Psychiatrist Kang Hee-chan said.

The number of male office workers suffering mental illness doubled to 212,883 in 2007 from 114,579 in 2000, with the number of females increasing threefold to 141,338.

It was mostly the workload or the work itself giving stress to males. They said they couldn't bear the stress of having to stay late at work or not being able to go home; or dealing with large amounts of hard work. They mostly had ``insecurity'' issues.

Men in their 30-50s were the most common sufferers. About 3.7 percent of those in their 40s and 50s had such symptoms.

On the other hand, women couldn't stand the stress of conflict and tension caused by relations in the office.

``I had this boss always picking on me and teasing me. Whenever she came near me, I started getting nervous. I had indigestion problems and had to take some therapy,'' 31-year-old office worker Yang said. ``I had to take medication for that. I couldn't quit the job, though.'' Yang said she has been taking medicine for the past two months.

Another worker at a perfume manufacturer said she has been in therapy for over a year. ``I am rather a quiet person. But office life was all about being vibrant and having to laugh all day with people. It took me a year to assure myself that I could be friends with my teammates,'' she confessed.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr

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Science Friday: Treating Depression

Depression's not just in your head. The condition is characterized by periods of weeks at a time of a persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood, feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness. Depressed people may find that they no longer get pleasure from or are interested in hobbies and activities that they once enjoyed. Over 20 million people in the United States are said to suffer from depression. In this segment, we'll talk about what the condition is and what can be done about it. Conventional therapies for depression involve medications and talk therapy, often used in combination. But is that approach the only way out of depression?

In his new book, "Unstuck," psychiatrist James Gordon says depression is not a disease, and that most people don't need drugs to feel better. In this segment, Ira talks with Gordon, and "Listening to Prozac" author psychiatrist Peter Kramer, about depression and its treatment, and when drugs might be needed.

To listen to the story, or get more information on guests and related links, click here ...

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The Last Psychiatrist: He's Not Yelling At You Because He's Angry

From The Last Psychiatrist:


I.

What happened is this: the junior lawyer messed up. Two years ago, he was supposed to do X, but instead did Y, because back then that's what he thought he was supposed to do.

In retrospect, it was poor judgment, but that's the way it went down.

Two years later all hell breaks loose, as they say, and Tom gets a call at his house at 8pm from one of the partners who is having a seizure. "Do you remember blah blah blah? You did X? How could you do X? Do you realize what you've done?"

Thing is, in those intervening two years about a thousand other similar X/Y scenarios have passed through his desk, he neither remembers blah blah blah, nor even at what point in his career he stopped doing X and started doing Y. Do you remember saying "aminal" instead of "animal?" same thing.

The next day he's pulled in before a bunch of junior partners and a bunch of senior partners and his junior partner lays into him: poor judgment, disastrous results, "this was a major client of the general counsel!" consequences, retributions, "this kind of thing will follow you around for the rest of your life!" and "I can't even protect myself, let alone you!" and on and on.

And its an old and primitive reaction to this kind of thing, he withdraws, he apologizes, he admits the mistake, he is guilty and ashamed but also powerless, what can he do? He starts to fantasize about getting out of here, about AAPL going to 300, about writing the novel, about hitting the guy in the throat with the head of the other guy, but ultimately he comes back to his own embarrassment. He wonders, can I get reported to the bar for this? I didn't think so, but maybe? he slinks back to his desk, beaten.

It's true: he ruined Christmas.

II.

But let's take a closer look.

They are yelling at him because they want him to eat it, to take it, all of it, leaving no room for doubt that it wasn't all his fault. Not in reality, but psychologically. He takes all the blame, but more importantly, when he does, he accepts it. That's the move. The partner is yelling because he wants the guy to accept all the responsibility; and as he does, the partner will start to believe it himself. You're to blame means I'm not to blame.

Here's how you handle a madman in a tirade: you point to the sand-- and the line you put there. You interrupt him, stop him dead in his tracks, and say this: I absolutely messed this up, I accept it. But let me be clear about something: I wasn't being lazy or sloppy-- I did what I thought was the correct thing, it was just wrong. Ok, I accept that. But the next part is this: if this is so important, why did no one notice it for two years? My work is supposed to be monitored, right? Ultimately, the junior partner is responsible for my work, right? Did it not occur to anyone that this very important client of the general counsel's-- no one thought to ask, hey, where's blah blah blah? What happened with blah blah blah? Who was working on it? Did they do X or Y? No one checked up on this very important matter?

Look, I'll do anything necessary to fix it, whatever you need me to do I'll do it. But I'm only taking responsibility for my mistake, not for the two intervening years that this important matter was not important enough for anyone to ever ask me a question about it.

How was I able to ruin Christmas?

III.

The guy doesn't want to say this, he thinks it will make things worse, because when his Dad yelled at him, anything he said would make it worse. So he just shut down, shut up.

He's worried that if he gets fired and tries to apply for a new job, when they call the old firm the junior partner will malign him to the new bosses. Wrong. He's going to malign you anyway, but if you've accepted all responsibility, and he has convinced himself that you bear all responsibility, then he'll actually rip you worse. Your only protection is to draw a line in the sand, my buck stops here. So when he tries to slam you to the prospective employer on the phone, he'll be consciously aware that he screwed up as well. "Tom sucks as an employee, but it turns out I suck as a manager. So, take that into consideration."

IV.

None of this applies if you're actually the boss.

When you are the superior, the boss, the father, whatever, then yelling insanely is never the right move. If your subordinate screwed up, then you screwed up. The buck is always yours no matter where it stops. "Ok, we screwed up, here's what we need to do to fix it, and to prevent it from happening again..."

V.

But there are a group of people who cultivate yelling as a strategy. It's not their nature to yell, they didn't do it before in their lives. They're not doing it despite their position in life, they're doing it because of their position in life. A position that was supposed to automatically define them, but turned out empty. "(I thought being a junior partner would mean something.)" Nope.

They are yelling to communicate something about their identity. They're sending you a message. Not how angry they are, but rather that they are very important. They yell about this not because this is a big deal, but because they are so important, so pivotal, such a huge player that there is so much on them that this is "yet another thing". No, it's true, I'm huge, I'm an attending in a major hospital for Christ's sake, if you knew how much I have to worry about-- look how I yell at the med student, the cashier, the telemarketer, I'm stressed out because I'm matter.

External validation of identity almost always means: an existence without meaning.

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The Writer’s Almanac: “Someone I Cared For” by Cid Corman

Someone I cared for
Someone I cared for
put it to me: Who
do you think you are?

I went down the list
of all the manypossibilities
carefully — did it
twice — but couldn't find
a plausible one.

That was when I knew for the first time who
in fact I wasn't.

"Someone I cared for" by Cid Corman, from And The Word. © Coffee House Press, 1987.

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Neurisprudence: Judges and Neuroscience

By Jyotpal Singh in Neurisprudence

Judges are now being educated about neuroscience. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in conjunction with the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists (NCLS) has recently begun holding seminars on Neuroscience and Law aimed at educating judges and increasing the linkages between the scientific and legal communities.

This is a very important step forward for both law and science because judges play such a critical role in the legal system. Judges make crucial decisions which affect not only the immediate case but also the later cases that will be bound by the decision under the principle of stare decisis. Informed, reasoned decisions can only be made about scientific topics in the courtroom when judges have good information and are well-educated regarding the issue. One of the dangers of mixing developing science and legal policy is that the scientific information can be distorted and abused. As neuroscience evidence and issues are brought into courtrooms more in the future, the need to have well-informed judges will grow to ensure that the new knowledge can be properly incorporated into the law while avoiding abuse or distortion of the science. This new development is a sign of change in the right direction.

For a summary of the fourth seminar in the series and other information, visit: http://www.abanet.org/scitech/emergingnews/judsci.html.

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The Writer's Almanac: "The Rider" by Naomi Shihab Nye

The Rider

by Naomi Shihab Nye

A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn't catch up to him,
the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.
What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.
A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.


"The Rider" by Naomi Shihab Nye, from Fuel. © BOA Editions, 1998.

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NYT: The Urge To End It All

By SCOTT ANDERSON


Is suicide the deadly result of a deep psychological condition — or a fleeting impulse brought on by opportunity?

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