Typical Themes Associated with Occupational Anxiety:
Vulnerability, dependence, and enmeshment themes: I won’t be able to perform my job; I’ll break down; colleagues will see my craziness; I can’t stay at work when I think I’ll go crazy, faint, have a heart attack; I won’t be able to concentrate; I can’t ever commit to a job because of my panic attacks; I can’t get to work alone; I won’t ever be able to work because of my panic attacks, my illness; I can’t stay at meetings
Social anxiety themes: People know I always miss work; they’re judging my work
Defectiveness, incompetence, failure themes: I’ll never be able to finish this; I won’t be able to cope with this; I’m spinning my wheels, getting nowhere; this assignment is too much for me; I’ll never be able to do this; I’m out of my depth
Unrelenting self standards themes: I must spend more time on this than others; I must do a superior job; I can still do more, another revision
Subjugation themes: This assignment is unfair, but I can’t say no; I have no choice or I won’t get promoted; I’ll be fired
Initiation blocks: I do my best work at the last minute; I’ll think about it tomorrow; I can’t start until I feel motivated; I don’t know where to start on such a big project, too much is expected; I must do these several things before I start the project
Perfectionist, obsessive indecision themes: I must do this perfectly; I can’t make any decision or start this job before exploring every possible option and exploring all possible outcomes
Typical Themes Associated with Occupational Depression:
Negative view of current occupational situation: My job has no meaning, job is too menial; intolerable coworkers, job demands overwhelming
Negative view of self in occupational role (failure, incompetence, defectiveness, social undesirability themes): I’m failing at my job, I’m worthless; it’s all my fault the job failed; my boss thinks I’m incompetent; I’ve let everyone down; I don’t know what I want to do, so I can’t plan a career; there’s no job I can do; I can’t ever work; I’m ashamed of my job, don’t want to tell others what I do; if I commit to a challenge I’ll fail
Negative view of occupational future: I’m stuck in this intolerable job forever; I’ve failed in my past jobs and I know I’ll fail if I try again
Source: Developmental Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Adults
Vulnerability, dependence, and enmeshment themes: I won’t be able to perform my job; I’ll break down; colleagues will see my craziness; I can’t stay at work when I think I’ll go crazy, faint, have a heart attack; I won’t be able to concentrate; I can’t ever commit to a job because of my panic attacks; I can’t get to work alone; I won’t ever be able to work because of my panic attacks, my illness; I can’t stay at meetings
Social anxiety themes: People know I always miss work; they’re judging my work
Defectiveness, incompetence, failure themes: I’ll never be able to finish this; I won’t be able to cope with this; I’m spinning my wheels, getting nowhere; this assignment is too much for me; I’ll never be able to do this; I’m out of my depth
Unrelenting self standards themes: I must spend more time on this than others; I must do a superior job; I can still do more, another revision
Subjugation themes: This assignment is unfair, but I can’t say no; I have no choice or I won’t get promoted; I’ll be fired
Initiation blocks: I do my best work at the last minute; I’ll think about it tomorrow; I can’t start until I feel motivated; I don’t know where to start on such a big project, too much is expected; I must do these several things before I start the project
Perfectionist, obsessive indecision themes: I must do this perfectly; I can’t make any decision or start this job before exploring every possible option and exploring all possible outcomes
Typical Themes Associated with Occupational Depression:
Negative view of current occupational situation: My job has no meaning, job is too menial; intolerable coworkers, job demands overwhelming
Negative view of self in occupational role (failure, incompetence, defectiveness, social undesirability themes): I’m failing at my job, I’m worthless; it’s all my fault the job failed; my boss thinks I’m incompetent; I’ve let everyone down; I don’t know what I want to do, so I can’t plan a career; there’s no job I can do; I can’t ever work; I’m ashamed of my job, don’t want to tell others what I do; if I commit to a challenge I’ll fail
Negative view of occupational future: I’m stuck in this intolerable job forever; I’ve failed in my past jobs and I know I’ll fail if I try again
Source: Developmental Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Adults
