I thought it would be helpful to start a thread on "how not to treat people with a mental illness." There are a lot of morons out there who don't get it -- I have one in particular in mind for myself -- and I thought it might be nice to have a list for him of do's and don'ts for coping.

I made a MINOR mistake yesterday that was caught hours and hours before it ever hit print. My boss called to yell at me for that and something else and told me that if I couldn't work, I shouldn't be here. (I am going on medical leave because of the depression but -- silly me! -- felt obligated to stay through the end of the week, though I could have left immediately after my dr. appt. Tuesday.)

Here is the email I got following the phone convo:

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Just to follow up on our phone conversation, I'm sure things aren't easy for you right now and I am trying to understand that. I know you are making a good effort, based on your decision to stay through the end of the week.
However, if you are at work you need to be professional and productive. Not finishing a CV feature when it's been on your radar for a couple of weeks leaves me in no better spot than when you failed to give Christena a health feature. I would have thought you learned from that mistake.
You simply need to plan better and get started earlier on these stories. It's inexcusable.
You need to take FULL responsibility each and every time for what you are assigned, the several names you failed to get on the fair snapshot boxes and the wrong performer for Friday's Snapshot box other examples of sloppiness that I seldom see even from part-timer reporters or interns. I don't know how, as a reporter, you could not get the name of someone you spoke with and just assume someone else (the photographer) got it and got it right.
You do good things too, but half or three-fourths of the time just isn't good enough.
Hopefully some of these issues will be resolved when you return. I certainly hope you will be able to work at the high level I believe you're capable of.

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I wrote him back with a couple of links (including to the depression resources on PC) and left it at that, but oooooh, I'm still steaming. And I sense it will do no good to tell him that right now it is all I can do to get out of bed every day, and that if I don't have to, I don't. (I spent the 3-day weekend last week pretty much moving from bed to couch, without leaving the house.)

I have been dealing with this stuff since I was a young teen. I have managed to hold down jobs for a couple of decades despite repeated flares. And I have NEVER encountered an employer who, after hearing what I'm going through, has cared less about *me* than about the job.

So: If you could, what would you tell people about how not to treat you? I will kick off the list with "telling someone who already feels worthless and hopeless that he or she sucks is both unkind and unproductive."