How to Deal With Job Loss Without Damage to Your Self-Esteem

Our careers fulfill a number of different functions in our lives, says David Blustein, a professor of counseling psychology at Boston College and author of “The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Work Experience in America.” Work helps us satisfy our needs to achieve, earn an income, connect with others and feel like the authors of our own stories, he says. In Western cultures in particular, Dr. Blustein says, our jobs are often so integrated into our identities that it is common to feel as though we have lost some sense of self if we lose them. This can take a toll on your mental health. Unemployed Americans polled by Gallup in 2013 were more than twice as likely as those with full-time jobs to say they had been treated, or were being treated, for depression. 

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It isn’t uncommon to have feelings of depression and alienation after losing a job, says Dr. Blustein. At the same time, many people struggle to get by and provide for their families without a regular income, and some fear losing their homes. These issues can have a compounding effect. A study published in September 2019 by the Association for Psychological Science found that people who experienced financial, housing-related or job-related hardship during the 2007-09 recession were more likely to show increased symptoms of depression, anxiety or substance abuse and had higher odds of a number of adverse mental health outcomes three years after the recession. 

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