i've been home from work because of my depression for 6 months now. Most people know what is going on with me though, so I don't face the dilemma you describe. Also for people who are not privy to what's going on, I have pretty bad arthritis so I can use that as a fallback option. In fact my time at work before I was hospitalized was very miserable because of the depression but everyone assumed it was because of my arthritis so they didn't even ask.

For the general public though I am sure it is none of their business. I know if I fill out a job application I will not put that down. I don't know if it is different in Canada but here it is illegal to employers, anyone for that matter, to get any information on my illness or treatment without my express approval. In the hospital I had a form to sign to list all the people who the doctors could let calls through. If anyone else called they are not even allowed to confirm or deny that I was in that hospital.

So you could just say you have been ill and leave it at that. It might be more difficult because the symptoms are not obvious. Are these people nosy? If you said you were currently unable to work because of illness would they pry further for info?

As another suggestion, were you working before the depression got so bad? If so if people ask "what you you do" you could say what you did at your job before and then add "but currenlty unemployed". I don't know if people are asking specifically "where are you working now" for smalltalk it is usually more like "what do you do?" and I would answer "I am a manager in the prepress industry, but currently not working" and that sort of bypasses the illness question. and if they ask more I just tell them more about the what prepress is and what i do.

Anyone who specifically wants to know where you get your money from is just rude in my opinion.

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
-- <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.idexter.com>http://www.idexter.com</A>