On 12 Nov 96 at 8:44, John Constantine wrote:
> First, this is an extremely serious subject for such discussions on the
> open air, so to speak. Should all such responses to this thread by
> individuals with personal experiences to tell be given anonymous status?
> You may get a lot of things sent to you that you might not like, or that
> might be best dealt with by a psychologist or other counseling agent.
>
> Second, the responses to this (and future similar posts) might not achieve
> the desired purpose, whatever that might be.
John, I think this is a very important topic that needs to be aired,
because it is and will have an increasing importance in the workplace.
IMHO, one of the critical broader issues is the roles and responsibility
of the organization in terms of this issue. I see implications for things
like performance management, changing roles of the manager, employee
assistance programs, preventative programs, health care benefits issues,
etc. According to a recent Times article there are over 2 millions
diagnosed cases of anxiety disorder in the US, which is certainly an
under-estimate.
> There is sufficient evidence
> (as has been pointed out by several members already) which links
> depression to chemical imbalances as well other causes. Without sufficient
> confidence levels as to what we (or they) may know, responses to such
> posts might be off the cuff remarks, and might actually do more harm than
> good, and not be as helpful to anyone as we all might think.
Agreed which is why looking at the broader issues is important rather than
getting into online counselling. BTW, there are several newsgroups/support
groups on the subject in the alt.support.* hierarchy.
Robert Bacal, Bacal & Associates, rbacal@escape.ca
Join us at our Resource Centre at
http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~dbt359
Phone: (204) 888-9290
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>