I am really struggling with being able to function at work. I work in a stressful environment, with Chemical Dependency inpatients. Last night, many of the patients were very irritable and demanding and were taking their frustrations out on me. When I'm this depressed, I have such a thin skin, and just can't deal in a healthy way with this kind of thing. Whenever I got back to the nurses desk (away from the patients) I would start crying. I got so anxious, and I felt myself starting to decompensate... I was getting confused and disoriented, could barely talk, kept dropping things and knocking things over. The obvious answer would be "Take time off work," and I did call in today. But I'm not in a financial position to take more than a few days off. (My paid vacation and sick time are all in the same pool, and its pretty much gone for the year.)But I'm obviously not helping myself or the patients when I'm going to work feeling this depressed.
Has anyone else struggled with this?
