My experiences have been mixed. At my current workplace they have been supportive (as comp-ared with my last one where I was constantly expecting criticism and where the head of management said that stress was all in the mind). But on the other hand I have had experiences where I have said things were too stressful and been ignored. It's tough. I have adopted the strategy of being honest and upfront about having recurrent depression and waited to see how it is dealt with. I even told them at interview that I have had problems with depression, so I can't feel guilty that they didn't know what they were getting. Mental illness is so strange to some people. I hate the fact that I feel like I have a life sentence - after so many episodes I know it will continue to recurr. All I can do is try to spot it early and prevent as much as I can by being aware of my own stresses and weak points.

Caroline