Declaring in Job Applications

I searched this and saw a couple of individual mentions, but I thought I'd ask as a poll in a thread of it's own.

Do you declare your SAD on job applications/occupational health questionnaires?

I never had but just did on an application. Whenever I have a sort 'SAD crash' I ring in and pretend I have a cold. I'd rather be upfront. Having said that I was nervous about them thinking I wouldn't be fit for the job (carework) so I said it was well managed, which is the rose-tinted take on it!

I always put it on my occupational health form and I have always got the job which is good. Occupational health assess your form but don't show it to your boss because its confidential. Occupational health know SAD shouldn't stop someone being employed by them. I have never had problems but to be honest, I have not actually written it on my actual application form itself, just the occupational health form. Good luck :-)

Hmmm,

Well I did declare it on the Occupational Health form. And I didn't get the job.

I asked for some feedback and have had no reply. This feedback would be really useful as I am pretty much qualified and experienced enough to do the job. It may have just been my interview; I was nervous.

It's a bit concerning though. I've had no response, not even 'haven't got time' to my request for feedback.

Sigh. Being un/self-employed and sitting at home on these grey days is not good!

I've read the previous posts and it got me wondering. One concern for me is that I've never held a job before. Do you tell them or not at the interview?

I'd been suffering from SAD for four years without realising it - since it just came up when I was 19. I was in Canada at the time. When I finally did realise it, I then graduated from university and fell into a major depressive episode. I couldn't look for work at all. There was a post for library assistant I actually wanted, but couldn't get out of bed let alone sit and make the CV. I think I am getting better. "think" being the operative word, since next week I have no idea. The thing is, I now want to try to get into a counselling course to see if I could become a counsellor. Is it unrealistic to think that when I do suffer from bad SAD and also dysthymia, when I sometimes feel like I'm the one who needs a carer?

I have to do something with my life; I know for sure now that realistically I can't be out of work until I'm "fixed" or over the depression. I have to face who I am right now, even if my family doesn't. With the very real recession and me being 26 (though I feel like I am 10 in my head) I need to find work that I can actually do. But with social anxiety it's going to be hard, isn't it? And with no work experience.... Gosh.

What jobs do you currently hold and how do you manage in the winter? Also, for those who are on unemployment benefit, how do you face having to travel every two weeks to sign on to JSA? I apologise in advance if this topic has been addressed in another thread.

Hi BWAD and thank you so much for the detailed response. It's really helpful.

I just had to ask you what you meant by having a diagnosis. Did your GP actually diagnose you with SAD? Mine was reluctant to do so, though she did diagnose me with "moderate" depression at the time. Does that mean that you have to show an employer a GPs note? I suppose that would also be the case were I to go on ESA.

ESA seems to be more appropriate for my case. Such a blow to the pride.

Thanks again BWAD.

I did one CBT block on the NHS in 2007 and one a year after where I currently live in Pakistan. Didn't work, I mean, they must have worked a little. I'm sure. But for me, it seems I am just too deep down. Not quite 26 in the mind, perhaps six years behind. Literally.

Spirituality was missing - I'm trying to connect with that with again limited success. Yoga, homeopathic medicine since SSRIs were a BIG mistake for me, Reiki - nowadays I'm reading about schemas and mindfulness.

I guess my way of understanding things is better when they are explained to me intellectually. Over and over and over until my mind and heart finally connect with it. Basically, me doing my own CBT, but from a spiritual perspective. My friend has helped me, before I realised that I needed that help. I'm slow like that, thinking everything is faulty and won't work.

Also, the second therapist who did CBT ended up not clicking at all with me personality wise - she got fed up at the 19th session, because she was used to clients who were a "quick fix" and "they've all gotten better in three sessions" whereas I knew for sure that I was stuck in the dark and needed a lot more. I had a lot of anger then. Also my personality is so different from most people. I'm a "highly sensitive person" and an INFP - and it went all wrong.

I don't know - I just feel this "normal" since the past week, whereby I'm phrasing proper sentences. I hope this normalcy remains.

I'm seriously considering taking up a course, but that means me returning to the UK - in January. I feel I can't wait till April, because that's another three months of being here, doing nothing. Literally scared to leave the house.

For three years I've been unable to think beyond basic survival, I've been at home fighting this thing and just realised that I'm 26 years old and still a dependent. With a three year gap on my CV and absolutely NO work experience. And not at all sure where I'd fit, if at all. And only being able to work part time at first. It seems I have all these needs to be fulfilled, when I'm not fulfilling the employer needs. That's what it boils down to.

Though I have a degree in English, that's as good as not having one in the jobs market in general when I have nil work experience or other qualifications. It doesn't sell me at all. How come I was so dense not to realise all of this at 19? Well, I did but could barely cope with the university work let alone write a CV.

Oh, well. Life happens differently for each of us. All this is hindsight. Funny thing is I want to take up counselling. At least to try and fail at it rather than not try at all. That's the major thing that's stopped me, perfectionist thinking.

I do apologise for the lack of restraint about disclosing my personal life here. I'm sure it's not really done. I'm used to doing so on a more appropriate forum. But I just couldn't help it!

Skye, it sounds like we have quite a lot in common, in fact I have written similar things in the past.

Like you I didn’t find CBT particularly helpful, but I thought I would mention it as it does have useful elements, particularly in relation to not detrimentally beating ourselves up about our situations - being perfectionists too, definitely doesn’t help either.

I am not sure how some things would work in your circumstances, but if you decide to start a course back here, you might want to look into Disabled Students' Allowances which could aid you with paying for extra equipment or help with your studies – I’d be well and truly stuck without mine, as I actually try to complete a degree. My sports psychology lecturer would tell me not to use the word “try”, since we automatically associate it with the possibility of failure; he’d tell me just to do it.

Anyhow, I hope it all works out well for you whatever you decide to do.

Yes, I've heard that Royal Mail are less discriminatory when it comes to employing people with, previous perhaps, mental health problems. (Not sure if people on this site consider SAD to be that, but I do!).

I asked for feedback on the job I was declined for and have had no response at all, which feels suspicious to me. I'm going to ask again. Perhaps I should ask outright if that was a problem for them?

Although, I guess they can't answer honestly without admitting they discriminated. Still, it might push them to respond!

Anyway, I really wanted to poll, with this thread, what kind of proportion of you mention it on Job Applications or if you keep it secret?

To be honest I hate seeing people put SAD into a 'mental health' category. I don't feel it is. I don't have a mental health problem. I have a problem with lack of sunlight causing a physical chemical imbalance.

Saying that I have a mental health problem just makes people 'dismissive' of SAD.