Why Can Oppositions Make It Easier For You To Suffer From Depression?
When the call for applications is opened, it is possible that the candidates who aspire to the job offered feel, to a greater or lesser extent, nervous. They could experience anything from mild restlessness and anxiety to a true emotional hurricane. Within this range of emotions, to which thoughts, physical sensations and behaviors are also associated, there are people who experience the characteristic symptoms of depression.
Opponents may feel a significant decrease in their energy levels, lose interest in other activities that they normally found pleasurable—or even feel unmotivated by the very fact of opposing; Just as they could also have thoughts of ruin and guilt in relation to themselves and their work situation. In this article we will develop the factors that cause the way of coping with opposition to cause the appearance of depressive symptoms.
Why are oppositions a ticking time bomb for your emotions?
First of all, it is necessary to clarify what an opposition consists of in order to move towards its possible relationship with depression. An opposition is a selection process that consists of carrying out several exams or tests with the aim of evaluating the competencies of the candidates for an offered position.
Generally speaking, there are usually one or more vacancies for which candidates aspire. Applicants must meet a set of prerequisites to apply. At the end of the process, the scores obtained in the tests carried out are weighted in order to determine which candidate(s) are the most suitable for a position within an organization. This type of procedure is widely used in the field of public administration, but can also be used in large companies.
As we noted at the beginning, participating in an opposition can be an extremely stressful process. This is because there is usually one or more people evaluating another based on their performance when performing certain tasks at a given time. There are a couple of issues that can be noted here. On the one hand, it is expected that being judged by a committee or an evaluator will be experienced as a threatening experience. On the other hand, the tests are taken in a given moment. This means that They do not translucently reflect the capacity of an individual, since their performance will be influenced by various variables such as the current mood.
Furthermore, an individual’s problem solving and critical reasoning are aspects that, although to a greater or lesser extent can be evaluated in an opposition context, could only be seen applied in a real context. The tests fail to definitively capture a person’s abilities, and that can generate a sense of helplessness in candidates, increasing their stress and anxiety. However, it is for a more practical reason that performance in these tests determines whether or not you obtain a position.
With this context in mind, it is more than understandable that candidates experience unpleasant and uncomfortable emotional states, sealed by anxiety, fear or more complex emotions, such as frustration and hopelessness. Each of the candidates has baggage, a backpack, full of previous learning, personal stories, narratives with which they read the world, which determine what they say to themselves and their behaviors in the face of this important event in their lives. . For this reason, people who have been rejected in the past when applying for a job are likely to have thoughts like “I won’t be able to make it” or “I’m not prepared enough for this position.” It is relevant to note that These beliefs could be completely out of step with their real abilities or the time they have invested in preparing the opposition.
Furthermore, these “negative” thoughts and emotions do not usually remain caged in abstraction. They tend to trigger specific behaviors that could be even more harmful to the person than what they feel. For example, a person may feel overwhelmed by the uncertainty caused by not knowing the final result of an opposition. This emotional reaction is expected and normal, since valuable aspects of your life are being put at stake when you apply as a candidate for a new job position.
Some of them could be your personal projects or the financial support of the family group. However, in order to calm those intense emotions and thoughts, you could reduce the time you dedicate to preparation—“totally, no matter what I do, I will never end up in a position like that”—or you could even give up showing up at the opposition —because “I am not yet sufficiently prepared for it”—.
In the short term, this avoidant strategy can be very effective, since the person will begin to feel a certain calm or tranquility when they are certain that, in fact, they will not get that position and there is nothing they can do to achieve it. The imminent and uncertain danger of the opposition is no longer there. The biggest problem is that, In the long term, the person will have given up on that project that they originally wanted so much. The final balance of the situation is not simply having lost a job opportunity, but the sum of large amounts of added suffering that was not there before, namely, more frustration for not showing up, more sadness and more negative thoughts about oneself. .
An opposition could ease the symptoms of depression
All of this (thoughts, emotions and behaviors) could make it easier for a person to stop carrying out the activities they used to enjoy; that he feels low in energy, remains in bed all day, his appetite and sleep schedules are altered, and he suffers other symptoms compatible with depression. It is difficult for a person to meet the diagnostic criteria necessary to suffer from a depressive disorder in the relatively short period of time that an opposition or other selection process lasts. However, opposition could be one of the factors that triggers some of the most characteristic symptoms of this psychopathology.
Making a consultation with a psychotherapist is a great alternative to be able to face oppositions more effectively. This will depend on the approach from which the professional approaches this problem, and may aim to question those beliefs that the patient has about himself/herself that prevent him/her from adopting an adaptive attitude, or, on the other hand, it could try to promote the preparation of the opposition even in the presence of those painful thoughts and emotions, working on the personal values of the consultant. Whatever the approach, psychotherapy can serve to modify the aspects of the person that sustain symptoms compatible with depression.
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