Work Stress Might Be Easy to Handle

Researchers are seeking to find the likely causes of depression since decades. Although a lot of people compare depression to a chemical imbalance and hope a medication will solve their problems; but the answer does not seem to be so simple. The two contributing factors of depression are genetics and a likely imbalance of neurotransmitters. However, scientists are inquisitive to know the impact of life stressors on the persons who experience anxiety or depression.

Both generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder are usually described as being anxious or depressed without reason. Yet, it seems that in some people prone to depression and anxiety, external stress could trigger episodes. As per a recent study conducted by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, two diverse models describing the reasons for job dissatisfaction and the impact of such situations on the feelings of anxiety and depression were examined.

The two basic models used in describing job stress are the demand-control-support model and the effort-reward imbalance model. The basis of the demand-control-support model is that the supposition that work stress develops in case of high demand but with social support and employee control being low. In case a person is subjected to high demands at work but has little control over their work load or working conditions as well as lacks social support from coworkers and management, the worker begins to experience increased work stress.

As per the effort-reward imbalance model, stress and negative emotions results in case a person constantly puts in a lot of effort in return for very little reward. In case a person is asker to undertake highly demanding projects or asked to work overtime without satisfactory appreciation, opportunity or monetary incentive, the person begins to experience more stress.

The above mentioned study looked into how poor psychological working conditions affect a person and if they could lead to dangerous health conditions for instance depression and anxiety. An assessment was made of 98 civil servants in relation to these models and their levels of job satisfaction as well as depression and anxiety levels were assessed .

It was found that social support, skill discretion and utilization had a positive effect on people suffering from depression and anxiety. As per the demand-control-support model, the number of skills that can be used in the job is skill discretion and is an element of employee control. The higher number of skills a person acquired to be utilized on the job, the person will be more satisfied with the job and will consequently experience lesser emotional strain. Also, the support from coworkers and managers seem to have a protecting effect and guards from work-related anxiety and depression.

It is on interest that exertion-related conditions like effort, demand or over-commitment did not seem to be connected to the feelings of anxiety or depression. According to this preliminary study it seems that none of these models can explain a relation between work conditions and occurrence of anxiety or depression. In its place, any one who experiences anxiety or depression in the course of the study could experience it irrespective of their working conditions. A person who is in a supportive, rewarding work environment might also experience anxiety or depression in case they were predisposed.

Employers could still desire to view stress caused as a result of imbalances in the effort-reward or demand-control-support working conditions they are constructing. Though it is not known if working conditions affect anxiety or depression, it is known that they have an effect on employee performance.