FACTS — Depression & Cognitive Functioning at Work
“Depression can affect cognitive functioning as well as mood.”
Depression isn't only about feeling sad or low. It can also affect the way a person thinks, processes information, remembers things and makes decisions.
At work, this may show up as:
- Difficulty concentrating for long periods
- Forgetting conversations, instructions or appointments
- Needing information repeated
- Finding it harder to make decisions
- Taking longer to process information
- Difficulty organising thoughts
- Struggling to prioritise tasks
- Losing track during meetings or conversations
- Finding problem-solving more difficult
- Feeling mentally slowed down or experiencing “brain fog”
- Making mistakes that would not normally happen
- Becoming overwhelmed by several demands at once
Someone's ability hasn't disappeared
A person may still have the knowledge, experience and skills needed for their role while temporarily finding it much harder to access them.
Tasks that were previously straightforward can suddenly require considerably more mental effort.
This can be confusing and frightening for the person, particularly when they know:
“I used to be able to do this easily.”
Cognitive difficulties can affect confidence
When concentration and memory become unreliable, people may begin double-checking everything, avoiding decisions or worrying about making mistakes.
This can sometimes be misinterpreted as poor performance, lack of motivation or disengagement when the person is actually struggling with symptoms of depression.
Workplace support can help
Depending on the individual, helpful adjustments might include written instructions, clearer priorities, reduced multitasking, additional processing time, regular check-ins, quieter working environments, flexible deadlines or temporarily adjusted workloads.
Managers should focus not only on what someone is struggling to do, but also on:
“What would make this task more manageable right now?”
Depression can affect how efficiently the brain is functioning at a particular time — it does not define a person's intelligence, capability or professional value.
Space to Breathe Therapy
