The $700 Billion Wall Street bailout. How not to cope.

I thought I would go ahead and put my two cents in on the financial deal going on this week. I will make the usual disclaimer here that I am a social worker and at best a scholar in Urban and Public Affairs and I am not an economist. I am not a specialist in how the financial system works.

I am not going to tell you how the deal is going to work and what you should believe about it. I am not going to tell you how to believe one way or the other about whether the bailout is a technically correct way of dealing with the crisis at hand.

But I am a specialist in helping people cope, and I will aim to help you cope. So I will start with that.

This thing is really stressing people out, and some people are making it worse on themselves.

I presume that anyone reading this has a basic familiarity with what is going on. I use the terms “basic familiarity” because as I read to do my own research, there are many little nuances. If you are a financial analyst, you probably could go into a detailed analysis about derivatives and securities. For me, my knowledge stops at the news. Regardless, the public sentiment is that the whole 700 billion dollar thing seems daunting, overwhelming, and just plain scary.

It seems especially scary because the president got on the air and made a brief speech using strong terms. John McCain really drew attention to it by “suspending his campaign” and almost not making it to the first presidential debate. Congress worked until late last night coming up with a deal they at least are informally in agreement about.

It has been the constant talk of the news shows. The emotional effect is magnanimous. I have decided that I will coin a term, “Media magnified informational intensity.” McLuhan coined the term “Global Village” because of the sense the media gives us that things are closer than they really are. I have decided that the media repetition of topics and information adds an emotional intensity to the situation.

It started 09-11-01 when we all sat watching the news coverage of the attacks. We saw traumatic video repeatedly. We saw people die. We saw it over and over and over again. The media kept repeating it over again to ensure everyone saw it, but too many saw it over and over and over again. It was the same information over and over again, but it appeared like it was too much. The apparent increase amount of information adds emotional intensity and stress to the lives of people.

I think that this has been one of those weeks, where I especially urged my patients to stay away from the news. I wanted them to avoid the media magnified informational intensity of the $700 billion bailout.

I of course had run into some people who cannot get away from the the media effect he past week who are the most histrionic about this whole affair, including: 1.) the nurse I oversee who has Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder, 2.) the social worker who has identified himself as a “Massachusetts liberal,” and staunch Democrat and, 3.) another social worker who strongly votes democratic and hates Bush 43.

Okay, so they are all Democrats, and I am about to paint myself as the Republican that I truly am. But I think that there are lessons for coping using them as non-examples.

Here is the challenge for coping: “$700 billion dollars” is a *%& load of money. At face value, our government is going to spend this *%& load of money to bailout financial institutions who look like they acted foolishly.

Furthermore, I borrow this lead from the story by Charles Babington and Alan Fram of the Associated Press (AP) in the story they filed right after midnight today (09/28/08)

Congressional leaders and the Bush administration reached a tentative

deal early Sunday on a landmark bailout of imperiled financial markets

whose collapse could plunge the nation into a deep recession.

It is a journalistic lead. It has the who, what, when. The “where” was in the dateline.

The negotiation process is the how, and for that you will have to read the story (It was a textbook news story just like from my days in JLMC 201 at Iowa State).

But the part that is really notable to me in the emotional battle to stay calm is the last dependent clause of the sentence:

of imperiled financial markets whose collapse could plunge the nation into a deep recession.

That is where our emotions are . . . in the “could” of it all. The terms Babington and Fram use are extreme terms.

Back to the three people I surveyed—with or without their knowing it (Valerie, Ned and Meg). I will uses those pseudonyms to make this easier to read.

Valerie, the nurse

Right up front, I did not have to ask Valerie about this subject. I did not have to wait for her to start talking right after she sat her stuff down in the mornings—she just did.

Valerie usually comes in and generally spends the first 30 to 45 minutes of her workday being histrionic like Chicken Little. She tends to talk in a loud, distressed voice about all the problems of the world and how she does not know how we are going to survive? The sky is always falling with Valerie.

She did make a few such comments about the $700 billion in the past week. Valerie tends to catastrophize. She also has a negative mental filter. There is little hope coming out of her mouth and her mind is on the worst case scenario.

In my book Valerie has no insight into how she stirs herself up. Valerie claims to be a Baptist, but she also seems to have little sense of being able to practice the comfort and peace that Baptists assert they get from the Bible. I think that Valerie is fooling herself in thinking that she is preparing for the worst by dwelling on the catastrophic possibilities.

I think that the “I don't know what will happen” is something control freaks like Valerie dwell on out of their insecurity. It keeps them being control freaks about everything else.

Valerie is teaching me that inner peace and inner security is based on being able to accept that things are bigger than you. If you want to be calm, be aware that

Ned, the Massachusetts liberal.

I decided to ask Ned myself this week about this. I know Ned hates anything Republican, so I asked him in a hallway at work: “Ned, in 15 words or less, what is your opinion about the situation.”

Ned's response was terse “We're in big trouble.”

To me, Ned is a black and white thinker. I hate to say this again, but the people at the extreme ends of any philosophical matter are black in white in their thinking. Ned has said he is a liberal, and he acts like a staunch liberal.

In all fairness, my father is a black and white conservative. The last time I had any kind of conversation with him about politics, he was angry about the Democrats and he was angry about the liberal media.

Black and white thinkers cannot see the gray area of matters. “Gray” refers to the idea that things are not all bad or all good. Issues generally have many nuances and shades of meaning. “Gray” also points to the idea that the worst-case scenario that can happen is not going to happen. I go back to the AP story I quoted earlier,

of imperiled financial markets whose collapse could plunge the nation into a deep recession.

“Could” does not mean “it will.”

Meg "I just hate Bush"

The last one to talk about is Meg. Meg is someone I used to work closely with. I really like Meg even though her negative mental filter is a bit much. Meg has purchased a calendar for the past three years that have all of the “Bushisms” or alleged stupid comments from Bush 43.

Meg asked me on Thursday what I thought about the bailout? She also made a comment about Bush. When I told her what I thought, I recall her immediately talking about Bush screwing things up.

I invoked my scholar, expert tone of voice. I told her that people give the president too much power. Everyone in the federal government wants it and it will happen. The details are just to come and everyone has to get their two cents in to posture for their home districts. She immediately went from sarcastic to a like “o @#$&'” mode.

I went a little farther. I repeated my comment that I have made repeatedly—Gore would have done much of the same stuff that Bush did. Yeah, the U.S. President is the most powerful man in the world, but he does not have absolute power. That shut her up.

Meg taught me about the negative mental filter in this case. My impression is she obsessed in the following manner “I hate Bush, I hate Bush, I hate Bush.” I have known her for four years, I am confident in my observation—her constant entertainment of one thought has led to a bad attitude and a distorted perspective.

Yes, it is your freedom to hate George W. Bush. It is freedom of speech. But, when you dwell on something it will color the perspective just like a drop of food dye dissipates and colors a whole glass of water. Meg is a pretty sarcastic person overall.

Val, Ned and Meg are all likely guilty of the same thought distortions. Lesson for me.

1. The world will not end with this bailout—we will be okay.

2. If you actually read the stories today (September 28, 2008), it is not an all or nothing/black or white proposition—and some think that the Federal Government might actually turn a profit on this deal.

3. Watch what you think about—balance in your perspective means the difference between sleeping and not sleeping or no panic attack and the need for a Xanax.

4. Information is only information—the significance you give it is what does a number on your emotions.

5. I do not have to be like Val, Ned, and Meg.

Well, where we will be at the end of this next week is not exactly anyone's guess. Maybe this recovery will take a year or so, but to myself and whoever else cares . . . we will be okay. It does not mean that we will be perfect, but it does not mean that you and I will be in the middle of the disaster.

Out and up. A lesson in limits

While in the midst of a Louisville natural disaster, there were some most interesting occurrences that made me look at going for a promotion. I am going as best as I can in chronological order.

There is a method to this madness I am going to describe, so please hang in there. It is a strange situation in which I am finding myself learning about my limits as a human being.

Let me give you a brief background on how my department at the psychiatric hospital works. Over the whole shooting match is a program director. There are two clinical leads (myself and the other one). Then below us are the social workers and program assistants.

For the purposes of telling this story, I am going to start giving the people that I work with monikers or pseudonyms (made up names). It is going to make things cleaner in telling this story, if not give me a chance to cover my backside.

Initial pushes.

About 3.5 weeks ago, Mickey the other clinical lead came up to my office and told me that he thought that I should apply for the clinical manager spot of the admitting department. Mickey said that he thought that I had the clinical skills for the job and that he thought I would would be good for the job. I thanked Mickey for his good thoughts of me and told him that I would think about it.

One of the social workers three weeks ago sheepishly told me that she heard a rumor that I was applying for the admitting department job. I told her that while the other clinical lead had not suggested that I apply, I had not really been motivated to do so because of my dissertation process being in the closing stages.

The day after the CEO and VP were terminated (see earlier entry about “assumptions”), Debbie, program director had wanted to address rumors with me about the hospital situation. I decided to be assertive and told her that there was a rumor that I was interested in the admitting job. I told Debbie that while Mickey had approached me and suggested that I apply for the job, I was really not going to do anything unless I was approached because of my dissertation process. Debbie said that Mickey had a big mouth.

About 1.5 weeks ago, the director of the admitting department approached me in the hallway and told me that he heard that I had been interested in the job. I told him that I had considered it, but was only going to move forward if I had been approached. He said, “let's proceed.”
Almost immediately, I told Debbie that the admitting department director had approached me in the hallway. Debbie then confessed (in the only way she can) that she had told the admitting department director that I might be interested in the job.

I told Debbie that I was still in the decision-making stage, but I would be honest with her as to if I proceed with the application process. She told me that it were her, she would ask for nothing less than $65,000 for the job due to everything they wanted. She immediately wrote me an e-mail about it would be sad to lose me, but would understand because the hospital needs the best person in the position.

This is a bit befuddling. Debbie wrote me an e-mail that she would be sad to lose me, but at the same time she had told the admissions director that I might be interested? She said that Mickey had a big mouth, but then she perpetuated the rumor too?

I decided to approach the former occupant of the job, now working somewhere else in the system. I know her. She is a nice person (or at least pleasantly codependent). I asked her about the last job she had as I was interested in that type of job too. (I dropped the idea after talking to her). We talked on the phone about one day later at night. She talked about having to work third shift as a necessary evil. She talked about the position being on a pager 24-7 and even having to wear the pager on her vacation to Colorado and she was paged at Pikes Peak, but could not respond because of cell phone coverage issues. (Again I felt like dropping the idea after talking to her.)

I thought about it for two days, and while still ambivalent, I decided to e-mail the Admitting Department director for an appointment. I was not going to hurt to talk further. The Admitting Department director scheduled me in on Monday, September 15, 2008. I sought some advice from a fellow church member who has been in management for years on such job interviews.
A subtle background theme is that the winds of “Hurricane Ike” hit Louisville on September 14 after church. The local school district closed because of all the damage to the schools and that power was out all over the county. That meant that I did not have work because when the schools are closed due to inclement weather—we are closed too.


I decided to go into work on my own time because of the meeting. I was cleaning my desk. I had a bunch of paper I needed to deal with. I made contact with the Admissions Department director, and he wanted to keep the appointment at 4:00. I stayed at work the whole day on my on time except for one crisis at home with the kitchen sink just to keep the interview.
I had my list of questions as I usually do in such job interviews. He answered them. I liked what I heard for the most part. I could do the job. I was still ambivalent though.

Really feeling pushed up and out.

The new, interim, assistant vice president of the hospital made a decision on Monday afternoon that they were going to open the outpatient programs whether or not the school system was going to open. I was drafted to call patients and employees.

I called all the team of workers in my departments. I then called all the patients that I could reach. I considered it my volunteering on behalf of the organization.

Enter in the matter of “Fritz.” Fritz is a social worker. I recall getting Fritz's cell phone voice mail and leaving a message that we would be open tomorrow and that if was a problem to call in.

Fritz came to work wearing bluejeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap. The dress code for social workers is that they wear a shirt with a collar and slacks (they tolerate sneakers). Social workers are to maintain a neat and professional image. I have thought that only on two work days of the past six months in this job has Fritz really only maintained a professional image—otherwise he has slipped by through what I will call the letter of the dress code.

Fritz is the narcissist I have been alluding to in previous entries. There are no two ways about it.
I saw that he definitely showed himself to be a cluster B personality disorder when I went up to visit this department, and I confirmed his qualification for a Narcissism diagnosis as I have worked with him.

I called Debbie and informed her that Fritz was wearing bluejeans and a t-shirt and was out of dress code. She told me to send him home.

I asked the other social worker to take the first group—which that social worker dutifully did. I then called Fritz into the social worker office I share with him, closed the door and told him that he was out of dress code and that he would have to go home.

Fritz said that since we broke the rules while having program when the schools were out, he thought it was okay that he broke the rules of dress code. Fritz said that he had lost power and he had no clean clothes and the clothes he was wearing was the only clothes he had clean. With a facial expression that said “I caught you, ” he said that we had to pay him for coming in. He wanted to call Debbie and he wanted to call Human Resources. I got him the phone number, but the deal was still that he was out of dress code.

This was the most narcissistic thing I had yet to hear from Fritz. I had heard him make other statements. This was a strong case of non-manic grandiosity. (People with Bipolar Disorder have manic grandiosity, that you can easily tell that they are manic.)

Narcissists are not necessarily happy people in love with themselves. Narcissists have the need to be admired. They look sophisticated in taking on weird or sophisticated interests. Many narcissists simply have tiny kingdoms because they are not capable of trusting others in order to delegate to grow organizations. Narcissists also have their rules—they usually sound logical, but they are also grandiose.

As Fritz was making his phone calls of protest, I went down to Debbie's office and asked the intern in her office to excuse us while we talked about a personnel matter. We discussed Fritz's argument. She termed it his way of logic that confused her.

I outwardly labeled his his narcissism as I have in the past. I said that he was painting himself as a victim and that he was not a victim. He should have had the judgment to comply with dress code. I discussed that he was an adult and that as a licensed professional in this state, he was identified as being mature and should thus be held to those standards.

Well, I went back up to the department and heard Fritz talk on the phone. He talked very smoothly and calmly over the phone to Human Resources. I think he really believed his statement about it being okay to break the rule. I exchanged e-mails with my boss that he got paid for two hours. Okay, Fritz was able to manipulate, but at least he left.

Later in the day I met with Debbie to review the job performance of the staff under me. We reviewed Fritz's performance. At this organization, individuals have the opportunity to grade themselves first. Fritz did so, and gave himself very high marks for team work and professionalism. I argued that he needed lower marks as he was constantly late in getting his work done and that he was refusing to float to other departments, and he was refusing to provide supervision to the social workers working on getting their licenses to become LCSW's. Debbie only moved Fritz's marks down slightly.

We talked about Fritz's behavior earlier in the day. Debbie said that her boss said that Debbie should write Fritz up for it. Debbie admitted that she should. Debbie then called Fritz to see if Fritz was going to come in tomorrow.

Debbie sounded scared and subservient over the phone when she talked to Fritz. This is very different from all the times she has fumed in private about Fritz's behavior.

The concept of limits.

I concluded from how Debbie acted that I needed to formally complete the job application for the promotion in the Admitting Department. Yes, Debbie is a borderline and Fritz is a narcissist.

They will continue to perpetuate drama. I will be extremely surprised if Debbie follows through and writes Fritz up for the dress code violation.

Narcissists and borderlines seem to find each other like dogs in heat. They need each other because no one else is going to tolerate them. They interact in chaotic and dramatic ways. The borderline will either be sympathetic with or side with the narcissist when a third party comes into fight (this is one form of the triangle of drama). Narcissists and borderlines are emotional parasites that draw blood from other people in the process so they can continue in their drama.

I have not mentioned this, but Mickey tends to have antisocial traits. He will continue with Debbie because it serves Debbie's purposes. Together, they are like “Scar” and the hyenas in “The Lion King” who take over the Savannah and ruin it. The departments are in the process of being ruined and the statistics are evidence of it. It will be a matter of time before Debbie is fired unless she sees the signs to get out—but the damage will have been done.

Being a therapist who can analyze this pretty much stops there. I can see it, but I am fairly sure that I am not in any position to make any changes. I had no power in the situation other than what was delegated to me by the borderline. She is not going to make the situation healthy, but then to avoid the black and white thinking—she is not going to make it totally chaotic. If I analyze any further to guess what the different parties can do to make the situation more convoluted, it becomes worry.

It is close to the defense of my dissertation—give or take a term. I cannot own the departments I lead. I really care for most of the people I lead (Two people could leave and I would not miss them—did I just say that? Yes I did). I feel slightly responsible for them, but then again, my only reasonable actions really are to take care of myself and my family. This is the concept of having “limits.”

Limits are where you end and others begin and vice versa. To have limits is to have a sense of confidence in only owning what you can rationally own and not trying to get involved in other people's affairs.

To have limits is to be able to practice a sense of peace of knowing that you do not have to do something just because someone else has a problem. To have limits means you can let other people suffer when they do dumb things and you do not have to rescue them.

To have limits also means that you do not have to be a rescuer. In the book of “Proverbs” in the Bible it says that for a person to involve themselves in other people's problems is comparable to grabbing a dog by the ears. Whether you believe the Bible has any credibility or not, I note that it was observed long ago that people must have limits.

So, I feel that I am being pushed up and out of the department. I am not one of the three dysfunctional personalities. If you do not jive with the drama, it will spin you out either through abusing you or through the bizarre process I have described above. I had wanted to hang on because I had wanted Debbie's job, but my sense is that unless she has a catastrophe or suddenly moves on, she will stay in the job. Again, I am responsible to myself and my family.

I feel that if indeed I am being pushed up and out it is really okay. The last limit that I am experiencing is that “I do not have to act like I am in a tug of war” with Debbie and Fritz. There is nothing there to really win there with them. They are empty people where there is no real secret to find other than they are empty people.

It is not a sure thing that I am getting the job. There may be someone better than me who gets it. I have confidence that the nod will go to me if no one else in house wants it. I interviewed well for it and I think I would like working for the guy and that I would learn a lot in the job. However, the "up and out" thing is not something one would think is a motivation for going for a promotion. But it may be more common than I realize (please comment if you agree or disagree).

At this, I had better stop. There is a limit as to how much more time my wife will tolerate me writing this. It has least has been a note to myself and whoever else cares.

Power Out

This entry is not about work, but about my general experience of the past week.

I am a week beyond than the time I had planned to write.

Even though Louisville is several hundred miles inland, it actually had a hurricane so to speak. In reality it had hurricane-force winds as a result of the weather system that had been “Hurricane Ike.” The Louisville Gas and Electric Company had over 200,000 households without power—two-thirds of its customers.

We lost our power, Sunday, September 14 at about 2:00pm. We just got out power back tonight at about 6:19 Eastern Daylight Time. We had no electricity for just over five days.

Of course like most others in the Louisville Metropolitan Area, we lost the contents of our refrigerator, but we saved most of the meat. We saved the milk. But all kinds of condiments and other items were history. The garbage trucks were extra-heavy with spoiled food.

It was a little freaky driving in my neighborhood in the early evening when none of the street lights or houselights were on. It reminded me of living out in the country.

I had a couple of lessons from this week.

Lesson one is about “awful-izing.”

I have a nurse that does something called “awful-izing.”

There are many ways I can take my analysis of the nurse and the situation. The nurse is clearly a borderline personality who tends to act like she must control. She has no limits and when she cannot control she freaks out.

Awfulizing is one of the feedback loops she has to reinforce her need to control. She talks in extremes.

She comes in each day loud and anxious. She tends to talk about all news as bad news, and she is worried about what will happen if something else happens. I feel sorry for her husband.

Well, for the past four days the recurring question she would ask each day was:did you get your power back? My answer of course for the past four days was “No.” She would reply: “It must be rough.”

I have had to repeat again and again, that we made it through the night just fine. Today I said that I decided that I cannot dwell on things. I do not think that it means anything to her, but it does to me.

Awfulizing is a truly miserable place to be. Very few things are going to be the worst that they could be.

Lesson #2 is about gratitude.

In many ways, I feel that I have little to complain about. For me, life got simpler while the bad news of the week was complicated. I was pleasantly distracted from the news of wall street investment banks Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch (more a brokerage firm) were floundering. I was also distracted from the AIG news for the most part. Sure, I listened to the radio a lot, but there was something good about not seeing the TV day in and day out.

We had to cook outside each day. We had to see in the dark by candle light and flashlight. We utilized the crank radio I found on discount at Walmart.

We had to use ice to keep things cold. Getting ice was far easier this time than the last time the power was out for an extended period of time several years back. I found an automated ice house that gave either a 16-lb bag or 22 lbs of bulk ice for $2.00 a shot. My employer gave out bag ice too. Walmart and Kroger (the primary local grocery chain) seemed to have ice when we needed it. We had the ice we needed in general.

What kept me grounded was thinking about how blessed we were. I remember reading about life in third-world/undeveloped world cities where people are crowded in urban areas where they do not even have the basic utilities of water and sewer, and law enforcement is crooked. I still had a decent house (not so great by American standards) that 95 percent of the world population would be thrilled to live in.

I thought it was cool that we were roasting marshmallows outside over the remaining charcoal.
It was good to talk to the kids around the charcoal and talk about how we really had a lot despite not having power.

I was more mindful in my saying the bedtime prayer for my kids. While I wanted to pray for the power to come back on, I was all the more mindful of how blessed we still were to have what we have.

I did have a few thoughts about what would happen if the power were turned off because of my losing my job or my not being able to afford the bill. To be honest with you, I did not let myself go there for too long. Maybe it was God's blessing, or maybe I was just too tired with going to work, and then coming home to have to cook each night on the camping stove or grill.

For now, the chapter is over. While I have had my lessons, I am actually glad that the power is back on. Not having your electricity in a house meant for electricity is stressful. I did not sleep as well despite actually going to bed earlier. My allergies got worse through the week without air conditioning in the house. But not having power for a week was tolerable and actually probably good for my soul overall.

In my next installment , I am going to talk about my work issues of the past week that were somewhat related to having the power out, but that may be more about tough times pertaining to work.

Oppression in the workplace

I have felt that the past week has been one of oppression. Work conditions at the hospital truly have been oppressive.

• There is a heavy air at the facility as it gets ready for state inspectors to come back at the end of this week to see if we did what we were supposed to have done.
  
• There is still the shock and disbelief over the termination of the hospital CEO and vice president.
  
• The replacement management is talking about cutting back even more in light the situation.
  
• People around me, especially my boss are expressing their concerns as to whether they will have a job?
• There are junior executives from the healthcare system asking lots and lots of picky questions trying to cover all of the bases to save the hospital and the healthcare system in general from losing Medicare and Medicaid. This has the net effect of slave driving given the current emotional state.
• The hospital has continued to be under extraordinary scrutiny from the state. It is getting old. It is getting tiring.
• The narcissist and borderlines that I supervise are even more wound up and reactionary, stirring up unwanted emotional turmoil and tension.
  

When this kind of stress keeps up at a steady rate I think that the effect is that of “oppression.”

It does not help that the unemployment rate in Louisville has reached 6.1 percent. It does not help that Seven Counties Services (the local public mental health agency) has laid off a bunch of people creating more competition for whatever few mental health jobs there might be in the local market. There are a number of environmental stressors outside the hospital that compound the feeling of oppression.

I have not heard much use of the word “oppression” in the past several years except when it was referring to the hot summer heat. In Louisville, the summer heat can be oppressive as it was the last few weeks.

Oppression usually means to be burdened mentally or spiritually. It can mean to be crushed. The connotation is that someone is acting in a tyrannical fashion, abusing or suppressing others.

However, as a actual MSW-bearing social worker, I also have been leery of the term “oppression.” The term “oppression” was thrown around at my Social Work school by anyone who wanted to call themselves and their ethnic or demographic group oppressed. Yep, they are victims and you should feel sorry for them and guilty for your more privileged status, and maybe you should be a nebulous advocate for them in ways that they cannot even think of at the time, which means that you should keep their victimhood and your guilt at the front of your mind 24-7 and feel oppressed along with them for no other rational reason.

There is only so much consciousness that can be raised, and I found oppressed by their claim of oppression, and I found myself turned off by it. While this is not politically-correct (read liberal)

I had begun to feel that the slogan “It's a black thing you just don't understand” was overused by certain people I knew at the time and I came to view their use of the slogan as their excuse to avoid their responsibilities for their own personal situations.

But I find myself concluding that I am feeling a sense of oppression now. I find a great weight on me. It is not just burnout. Burnout happens as result of the ongoing oppression. I think that any one can be burned out in any situation when they work too many hours—even if they enjoy the job.

In the oppressive situation, there is either a high degree of tension or anxiety that remains constant. The following are some examples that come to mind.

I believe that some work situations are oppressive by their very nature. For example I consider the entertainment field to be very oppressive. I consider any job in front of a TV camera to be oppressive. You have to look the part. You have prima donnas complaining about this or that imperfection. You have the paparazzi being intrusive and offensive all the time looking for that one photograph of someone being without underwear or being off guard or throwing a tirade. If you are successful, you have everyone wanting a piece of you in some way or another. Thus, many stars get addicted to drugs and alcohol to cope and have multiple marriages as a result of the pressure. (Thank God, I am an otherwise average joe bloke without acting or musical talent!)

I also consider the offices of politicians to be oppressive and working as a elected official's staff member to be oppressive. I have thought that a white house appointment would be fantastic. Spending more with your family is given as a standard reason for resigning from those jobs, but I really think that kind of appointment owns you, chews you up and spits you out. It is in that respect I am thankful that my wife has vetoed any jobs in Washington DC after I get my doctorate.

I think that many workplaces become oppressive when there is an especially dysfunctional boss. The boss in this case is a tyrant that rules by emotion and abuse. The boss acts by impulse and without judgment. The boss has no clue how to treat people with respect and dignity. People who grow up with an abusive mother or father figure likely migrate to this kind of tiny kingdom and stay that “realm” re-enacting family relationships. People who are otherwise stuck there (and despise it) because of lack of opportunity, engage in survival behaviors which make life a living hell for those around them—becoming perpetrators as bad as the boss.

One personal experience in this case was a mental health agency (that's right a mental health agency) in an east central Indiana city. The old woman who ran the department ruled by her emotional whims and insecurities. She was controlling and abusive and patronizing in the 1.5 years I worked there. She enabled the other borderline therapists to run things make decisions about my job performance. I was under some kind of probation half of the time for some b---s--t reasons that I almost walked. She acted stupid when I tendered my resignation. She and her lieutenant in retrospect were both borderline personalities and had no insight as to why they had such high turnover. I just knew that I had been treated better in other agencies. My personal responsibility to myself and my wife was to get out as soon as I could land another job in an area we wanted to live.

One other personal experience was when I was working at a Cellular Phone agency of “US West” in Minneapolis before I went to Social Work school. This was before I really developed emotional intelligence. I had no inventory to sell and little support in the way of good leads. The owners of the agency were somewhat exploitive—they controlled the phone calls in and made most all the sales while others scraped by. I sold very little during the one year I had been there. I look back and ask myself: “What were you doing in that crappy job?” My answer back to myself continues to be: “I did not know any better and it is okay. Nobody gets all the smarts at the beginning of life. You get them as you go.”

One last example of possible oppression that is relevant now is in times of economic hardship and recession. I have talked with numerous people over the years about their worries as to whether they will continue to have jobs? Will their factory or workplaces stay open? Employers seem to take great liberties when they have employees by the economic neck or male body parts in the lower half of the body that exhibit excruciating pain when grabbed or hit.

I have talked about examples of oppression, but what does it do to someone? In sum I think that it leads to burnout and depression.

In my current context, it has taken my mental edge off. I found myself forgetting today that I had already told my Sunday School class my story of work. I also found myself having less energy to do things.

I also find myself engaging in probably not the best coping activities. I also found myself engaging in comfort food snacking, which is not helping my diet.

I have had less motivation to do certain things like clean up my home office. I also believe that it is taking me back to job burnout again.

I have found myself preoccupied with work on the weekend when I have usually been able to forget about work and clients. I had a work dream last night, which is usually my signal to do something about it.

Okay, now what to do about work-place oppression? As usual, the answers are not easy.

First, I think first, it is important to be mindful of the oppression. I look back and I realize that I was not mindful of the oppression until later in the earlier jobs. I realize that what is going on is oppressing.

Second, try not to dwell on it. It does not mean that you are denying it. Denying means you are sticking your head in the sand. When you are refraining from dwelling on something, it means that you are seeing that there is more to life than just the oppression you are going through.

Third, try to see gray areas. Oppression is a time when people go to black and white thinking such as “always” and “never.” They also dwell on the most horrific or catastrophic possibility, even though there is only a remote chance it would happen.

Fourth, make choices thoughtfully. I think that the concept of oppression overall means that a person under oppression has no choices. You have some choice today. You have a choice to do something. Making a choice and being mindful that you have made a choice gives a sense of some power. Make a choice to have a grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwich today if that is a choice you can make.

Fifth, think about options (for a time-limited period). I have given a little thought as to what could happen if the hospital closes down due to some tyrannical state inspectors. I could be getting another job sooner than I expected. I may have defer the new siding and windows I am going to put in my house. I could be filing for unemployment. I could be applying to some hemophilia aid services to help my son continue to get his blood factor medication. My wife could be getting a better job as a necessity. But there limits to analysis—too much analysis leads to dwelling and dwelling leads to worry. Analysis is only good if you can really use it to improve a situation or take care of a problem.

Last (at least for now) make a survival plan. There are many times we have to make survival plans. My survival plan for this week includes: 1.) a cup of Starbucks coffee at least three times this week in the morning, 2.) video games where I destroy something, 3.) painting my garage floor at least one night this week, 4.) having something good for lunch every day, 5.) watching the “Big Brother” TV show, 6.) wear my ear plug and listen to the radio while at my desk in the afternoons so I do not have to listen to the borderline personality nurse who can't shut up about her worries, 7.) talk about it to my friends at church and of course 8.) write this note to myself and whoever else cares.

This as usual has been an imperfect discussion about dealing with a subject. I recognize that there is all kinds of oppression in the workplaces of the world. I close with this, while I may feel it and can do nothing about the sources of it, I can take some responsibility today for me. I hope that you will consider doing the same for yourself.