Take Care of Your Mental Health after Job Loss

If you are at a career transition point, chances are, you got there because you were unhappy at your job or, more likely, you were laid off (or "rightsized").  You may feel that you were summarily dismissed because your company perceived that you no longer had value.  This may impact your self-perception and emotions.  Perhaps, you are merely angry and feel you were unfairly targeted because of your age.  Whatever the circumstances, you have likely experienced a visceral, emotional response or a series of responses to your situation as you have progressed through the grief cycle. 

For those of us who are over 60 years old, we remember a time when psychotherapy was not mainstream, but was reserved for a very small section of the populace.  Movies like the Academy Award-winning “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” presented an extreme view of mental health and its treatment.  While entertaining, the movie didn’t offer a very appealing picture of mental health care and treatment options.  Most of us grew up in an era when we were taught to suppress our feelings and not to discuss them.  Although this has changed over the past twenty or thirty years, many of us may still feel that there is a stigma connected to discussing emotions like sadness or depression (and even to feeling those things).  This carries over into thoughts about seeking help from a psychotherapist.

For those who grew up in the Cuckoo’s Nest era, we may still believe that therapy is only intended for severely emotionally disturbed individuals, and not for people like us, who are feeling  depressed or anxious because we lost our jobs, not to mention our work families and even our sense of self worth.  We are more than likely worried about our futures and that of our families, causing increased stress and anxiety.  Fortunately, times have changed.  We know much more today than we did in the 1950s (or 1960s).  We know more about the impact of our mental well-being on our physical health and vice versa.  We now understand the importance of paying as much attention to our mental (aka, emotional) health as we do to our physical health.  A simple google search on the words “mind body connection” will reveal hundreds of medical and scientific articles and publications that illuminate this connection between the mind and the body.  Just as good mental health can positively impact our physical well being, the opposite is also true.  According to WebMD, one study found that “positive psychological well-being can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes,” while “depression has been linked to many chronic illnesses [including] diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis.”  Anxiety and depression can also cause sleep disorders.  Loss of sleep, in turn, can lead to numerous other physical conditions.  The converse is also true; physical conditions or illness can lead to stress, anxiety, and loss of sleep, thereby creating a vicious cycle of illness.  When we are in physical pain, for example, it is also difficult to focus or be productive.  Worse, yet, if we take medication for physical pain, some meds may leave us exhausted, foggy, or too tired to function optimally.

Ironically, when we feel that something is not right in our bodies, we usually seek help from a healthcare professional.  Why, then, would we not seek help when something is not right with our mental health; e.g., when we are sad, anxious or depressed?  The connection between our physical and mental health is so commonly understood that healthcare providers now use the phrase “mental health is health” in their advertising.  There is even an MTV Entertainment Group initiative called “Mental Health is Health.” (see website.) This initiative is “rooted in the reality that we all have mental health and need to take care of it like we do our physical health.” This initiative’s goal is to normalize the conversation [about mental health] and direct people to resources. 

Looking for work requires that we operate at our full capacity; networking and job hunting take time, energy and focus. If we attend networking events, reach out to others in our network, or interview for jobs, we need to put our best foot forward.  This is difficult to do if we aren’t feeling like our best selves.  Our mental health is the first thing we should take care of, perhaps before submitting that resume online, or reaching out to that former colleague who may be able to help. 

If recent job loss is more of a blessing in disguise and an opportunity to start that business you’ve always thought about, or to shift your focus to freelancing or pursuing other passions, you will still need to put 100% into those pursuits.  Once again, these efforts require attention to our health – both physical and mental.   

Give yourself permission to feel and process whatever it is you’re feeling.  Stress and anxiety is fairly normal at a time of career transition or even retirement.  Give yourself permission to ask for help, whether it is from a mental health professional, a life coach, career advisor, or your family and friends.  Just as you wouldn’t ignore a broken bone, an ulcer or COVID, don’t ignore your feelings.

Assuming you have decided you might like to speak with a professional mental health provider, you may be wondering how you can possibly pay for it.  If you did just lose your job, you have little or no income.  Whatever your health insurance, it’s not likely to cover therapy, or at least not for any extended period of time. Let’s face it: our U.S. healthcare system is broken and it can seem insurmountable to access care that we need when we need it.  Sadly, that is a much larger topic, subject for a different article.  Regardless of your circumstances, there are resources available that are either free or available on a sliding scale, based on your ability to pay.  The Mental Health Is Health website provides several links to free, confidential resources available 24/7.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also provides phone numbers and links to resources, as well as guidance on how to pay for care, with or without health insurance.  Concerns about money are a source of stress and can affect mental health and well being. There is no need to let those concerns be a barrier to seeking the help you need.  Mental health is health; take care of yours.