It doesn’t matter if you’re 10, 21 or 55; it’s hard to decide what career path you want to take. Personally, I have changed my mind at least a dozen times. The only things that consistently keep me happy are my family and my writing. Speaking of being happy with your job, did you know that some careers are more likely to produce depressed workers? Although it’s true, that doesn’t mean I’m discouraging anyone from pursuing these higher-than-normal depression-causing careers. Hundreds of factors can contribute to the cause of depression, so it’s important not to choose your career based off this list. However, it’s some interesting trivia and may prove helpful for those of you who are already susceptible to the blues.

Child Care and Nursing Home Workers Almost 11 percent of the nursing home and child care workforce report having symptoms of depression. This particular field can be very rewarding, but it’s important to remember that the caregivers often do tremendous amounts of work for people that are unable- or in some cases, unwilling- to provide praise and thanks. For many people, the stress of this job piles up over the years.

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When you think of first-year medical students, you probably think of them listening to lectures, jotting notes about diseases and dissecting specimens in a lab. Not long ago, you would have been right. Medical students had to wait until their third year before they could see patients.

That’s not the case at New York University School of Medicine. Students get to see patients on their first day of class.

“I am possibly the worst patient in the world to have,” an H.I.V.-positive tuberculosis patient said to the first-year medical students in an NYU lecture hall as they attentively scribbled notes. “I thought I had the common cold. It went on for months.” Read the rest of this entry »