ABSTRACT
Failures in work life can trigger depressive episodes, and depressive thoughts and feelings may center on the person’s work life. The distinguishing feature of this form of work disturbance is an inability to mobilize inner resources to engage work life. Unlike those with a work inhibition who are industrious and committed though relatively unproductive, these patients typically feel apathetic and lacking in energy, unable to recover from setbacks and failures, and ready to give up. An inability to work that has its onset in early adulthood is associated with emotional and skill deficits that can be intractable. Although disillusionment and disability in work life can occur at any point in the life cycle, they are typically functions of workplace experience, unfolding over time and clustering in middle age. Disillusionment with work and career leads not to a recasting of ideals and goals but to traumatized withdrawal and giving up.
