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Section 1
Depression Following Unemployment

Question 1 | Test | Table of Contents

In the USA, there are currently more than 15 million people unemployed. It takes the average unemployed American 33 weeks to find a job.

Americans that have been unemployed for less than 5 weeks are 3x more likely to find a new job than Americans who have been unemployed for more than one year. There are 9 million Americans that are working part-time for "Economic Reasons."

Are you currently treating a client who is unemployed? The purpose of this course is to provide you with specific skill sets to pass on to your employment seeking client.

In this section, we will discuss how clients who may have recently experienced a job loss can allow themselves to actually mourn via the process of contacting others and taking time to mourn. We will also discuss how clients who have faced a job loss can set their intentions.

Mary, age 51, was a manager of an R and D unit that was trying to move to first-to-market from fast follower. She told me, "The executive vice-president and I didn’t get along and one day I was told my job was over. I invested a lot of time and effort into making this unit successful. Working late hours and dealing with difficult personalities. It has been a long 10 years since I have interviewed and I am not looking forward to it. I have come to realize I haven’t been interviewing for jobs at the level at which I want to be hired."

Mary still needed assistance in fully mourning her loss. She also confided, "I feel like I don’t have direction. All of my intentions regarding my career are all jumbled."

Making Contact with Other People:
I shared with Mary, "This is the time to rely on friends, family, and others and take up any offers for support. Remember that you do not have to deal with this alone. Their support can help you deal with the feeling of isolation, help you express your feelings, and articulate your needs." Are you currently treating a Mary, who has recently lost her job, and who needs to assess sources of support?

I had Mary take some time to come up with a list of five people that could support her immediately. I stated to Mary that she could consider the following people…
- family members (immediate and extended)
- members of the church you attend or your church leader
- places where you spend your time and have made connections with people such as the gym or a place you volunteer
- participants of clubs or activities that you participate in
- neighbors
- friends (even close friends that you have lost touch with)
- another counselor
- colleagues that you feel comfortable confiding in.

Mary told me that "I am worried that people are too busy and I didn’t want to take up their time." I stated, "If you are worried about bothering them, make it convenient for them to get together. You can meet at a location that is convenient like a coffee shop near their work."

Sometimes the people your client leans on for support have not experienced job loss so what they say to your client may inadvertently be advice that doesn’t feel helpful. Mary faced this with one of her friends whose only response to Mary was to simply find a new job immediately. Mary was really hurt by this and when we discussed this I told her, "Even though her advice was not helpful to you, remember that her intentions are good. It is ok to remind the people you confide in that they do not have to fix your problem. It is ok to be specific about what you need from the other person and how they can best help you." As an exercise, I told Mary to list at least three specific ways others could help her. She listed helping update her resume, sending her any job offers they think she might be qualified for, and being able to listen when she hits a roadblock with her job search.

Finding a Thin Place to Mourn:
Have you found, like I have, that clients experiencing a job loss tend to not take the proper time to acknowledge and process the loss? I found this with Mary and I encouraged her to find what I have called a "thin place" where she could go to process her job loss. I stated to Mary, "A thin place is where the physical and spiritual world meet. In everyday life, when you witness it you experience a sense that you are not bound by time or space." Your client can find this experience outdoors just like I shared with Mary. I encouraged Mary to explore nature where two natural elements come together such as land and sky, the beach and ocean, the mountains and the clouds, etc. I encouraged Mary to go to one of these natural locations. I stated to her, "You will feel calm and will feel a sense of grounding. While you are there, you can pray, walk around, talk out loud, write down your thoughts, focus on your breathing, or simply sit and take in the moment. During this time, allow the grief you are dealing with to express itself."

Exercise: I talked with Mary about a "thin place" that she had been to in the past. To help her get in touch with this memory I asked her details about the place such as where it was, when she went, and what she did while she was there. We then talked about how this thin place positively impacted her.

We will now transition from discussing how your client can process their job loss to discussing how clients who have faced a job loss can set their intentions for moving forward.

To help my clients, like Mary, that have experienced a job loss I help them understand how they can set their intentions with regards to moving forward with their job search. I stated to Mary, "These intentions are actions you can take to help you be in the right mind set to move forward with your new job goals. Your intentions are like seeds and if you nurture them they will allow for new growth, new opportunities, and you become prepared for action and the beginning of a job search." The following are three ways that I shared with Mary to help her set her intentions.

Finding a Center:
I stated to Mary "Being centered means experiencing that place where you feel calm in your spirit and who you are. You feel a sense of grounding. By being centered, you can focus on the big picture and let go of resistance and fear. You are more aware and are able to have more clarity, calmness, and focus." With Mary we came up with a centering exercise that worked for her. Mary found that meditating was the best for her but your client may find that one or a combination of the following techniques is the most helpful for him or her: meditation, mindful breathing, affirmations, guided visualization, exercise, being outside, support groups, or being in the company of loved ones.

I encouraged Mary to set the intention to hang around with people who are centered by calling a friend who is hope-filled and centered and avoid those who are un-centered and negative.

Listening to Intuition:
When I began explaining how Mary could use her intuition to help her set her intention, I stated that "Intention is that centered, guiding voice. That gut feeling you have. Often your logical side will doubt this inner voice but when you follow your intuition your decisions seems certain and right, even if your logical side doesn’t agree." I encouraged Mary to explore using the following four ways to help her follow her intuition:
1. Record your dreams. I stated to Mary, "Vivid and repetitive dreams may be your intuition sending a message." I encouraged Mary to record her dreams and to look for ways in which her intuition may come through in her dreams. Mary also went to the library and researched how to interpret the symbols of her dreams.
2. Let go of fear. I encouraged Mary to use centering exercises, such as meditation and the others listed above, to relax and release fear.
3. Empty your mind. I stated to Mary, "One way to allow your inner voice to come through is to clear your mind." Mary found that writing and mediation helped her clear her mind of everyday thinking that got in the way of listening to her intuition.
4. Catch your split-second thoughts. I then encouraged Mary to become more aware of her split-second thoughts. I stated, "Trust your emotions and the thing that comes right before logic comes in. Ask yourself if your gut feeling is positive and inviting." I had Mary practice this during our sessions so she could master the skill.

Setting Up a Place to Work:
In order for Mary to better prepare to fulfill her intention of finding a new job, I encouraged her to set up a new place to work. Mary and I discussed five steps for her to create a productive work space.
1. Choose a spot where you can have everything that you will need within arm’s reach. I stated to Mary, "This can be your home office or a desk space in another room in your house. This may be a portable office if you use your laptop, cell phone, and portable file case so you can work in a local library or coffee shop."
2. I then stated, "Make a list of office supplies. This may include things like pens, printer cartridges, envelopes and stamps, notepads, file folders, sticky notes, stapler, and so on." This way Mary’s space has all the professional supplies she needs to productively go about her job search.
3. Next, I encouraged Mary to establish ground rules about others not using the office space so nothing will be tampered with. She step up the rule that her children could come in but only if they knocked on the door.
4. To keep all her new job research organized, I encouraged Mary to establish either an electronic or paper filing system.
5. To keep her motivation, Mary created a wall of inspirational quotes and affirmations in her work space. I stated, "Choose things that make you comfortable and are as you-focused as possible." She put up quotes from some business women she greatly admired and images that motivated her.

Do you have a client who has recently experienced a job loss, like Mary, who can use these techniques to set their new intentions?

In this section, we discussed how clients who have suffered a job loss can allow themselves to mourn through contacting others and find a thin place to mourn. We also discussed how clients who have faced a job loss can set their intentions. In summary, the three ways your clients can set their intentions are finding their center, listening to their intentions, and setting up a place to work. Your clients who have experienced a job loss can better listen to their intentions by recording their dreams, letting go of fear, emptying their minds, and catching their split-second thoughts. We also discussed how your clients can set up their place to work by choosing a spot, making a list of office supplies, establishing ground rules, establishing either an electronic or paper filing system, and creating a wall of inspirational quotes and affirmations.

In the next section we will discuss how to help your client prepare for or process the "awful moment" of getting laid off. We will also discuss how your client can identify their shock and listen to their body.

Wolfelt 33 and 41 Wolfelt 42, 43, 51, and 5.
Reviewed 2023

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article References:
Boyce, C. J., Wood, A. M., Daly, M., & Sedikides, C. (2015). Personality change following unemployment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(4), 991–1011. 

Howe, G. W., Hornberger, A. P., Weihs, K., Moreno, F., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (2012). Higher-order structure in the trajectories of depression and anxiety following sudden involuntary unemployment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121(2), 325–338. 

Shand, F., Duffy, L., & Torok, M. (2021). Can government responses to unemployment reduce the impact of unemployment on suicide? A systematic review. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.

Trachsel, M., Gurtner, A., von Känel, M. L., & Grosse Holtforth, M. (2010). Keep it in or let it out? Ambivalence over the expression of emotion as a moderator of depressiveness in unemployed subjects. Swiss Journal of Psychology / Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Revue Suisse de Psychologie, 69(3), 141–146.

Wanberg, C. R., van Hooft, E. A. J., Dossinger, K., van Vianen, A. E. M., & Klehe, U.-C. (2020). How strong is my safety net? Perceived unemployment insurance generosity and implications for job search, mental health, and reemployment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(3), 209–229.

Zechmann, A., & Paul, K. I. (2019). Why do individuals suffer during unemployment? Analyzing the role of deprived psychological needs in a six-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24(6), 641–661.

QUESTION 1
What are four ways your clients who have experienced a job loss can better listen to their intuition? To select and enter your answer go to Test.


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