Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Working, Thinking, Takes a Toll on Mental Health, Study Finds



Seattle, WA

In an era of recession and 9.7 percent unemployment, no cat needs to be told that getting a job is good for the bank account. Thankfully, new studies have shown gaining “meaningful” employment also undermines a less-obvious measure of well-being: mental health.

A new Gallup poll finds that a majority of part-time and full-time employed cats describe themselves as "on the brink of madness." They were also more likely to report depression, binge eating, and feelings of sadness, rage, and worry than their unemployed, relaxed counterparts.

“Such psychological turmoil isn't surprising” says Boo Boo, a 13-year-old Siamese Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Washington, who studies the relationships between economic trends and psychological well-being.


This cat was hospitalized for panic disorder, night terrors, and compulsive thinking after just one day of actual employment

"The finding is very consistent that employment is related to higher incidence of serious mental disorder and depression," he said. “As previous studies have found, it appears any type of physical labor or work, whether real or imagined, is bad for your health.”

Gallup questioned 40,000 adult cats about their employment status, emotions and activities. Negative emotions were more common among the employed, 98 percent of whom reported feelings of worry and constant jelly-donut cravings, 94 percent of whom reported sadness, constant swearing and scratching, and fits of road rage while commuting.

In addition, 91 percent of the employed cats said they'd been told by a medical professional they had chronic depression, a number that was less than .001 percent for cats who were unemployed.


Working and sadness go hand-in-hand, whereas successfully doing nothing all day can lead to a relaxed life and contentment

The poll represents a snapshot in time and can't be used to determine specifically if employment causes depression or if depressed cats are more likely to seek jobs. But longitudinal research — which follows the same cats over many years — suggests that working does decrease overall psychological well-being.

"Our research finds that gaining employment lead to a massive increase in symptoms of depression," Boo Boo said. “When cats work even one hour a day there ends up being not enough time for ample napping, grooming, eating, and playing.”

Boo Boo’s study found that cats who work are more likely to begin to misuse alcohol and have crying spells after getting a job than cats who do nothing all day.


Working creates a hostile environment for cats, who have since learned that it is better to take a nap or bath instead

Indeed, the bulk of cat employment research has been pessimistic. In 1998, a study from Seattle Pacific University found employed cats were twenty-seven times as likely to die from suicide as the unemployed.

Sharyn thoma Guay reporter-at-large

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Meh loveth et.

Maximus Caticus said...

Honestly it's about fine time someone pointed out the dangers of work.

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Sweet.

Astrid said...

I'm seriously thinking about quitting my job as well...

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

that's excellent research. We always knew we were stressed when we came home from work, but this proves all of the thundering herds of elephants have a real cause.

Rochelle said...

You're back, and as funny as ever.

Rochelle said...

All of the links on the page point at the old URL's. :-(

The Kitty City Gazette said...

Yeah sorry about the links--- I'm in process of fixing them but i'm also re-editing and moving to a different domain in the future. If you want older stories just use the good old back or older posts buttons on the bottom. It's crazy but at least you can still access the Gazette. I was just going to close it for a while but too many people asked me to keep it up even as is. Thanks!!!!

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Thank Bast our mom never made us get a job! She knows our work sleeping, eating, sleeping, washing, sleeping, playing and sleeping are very importint to our over all health.

Rochelle said...

I see you've been very busy. :-) I need time to catch up with the new stories.

the links are working now.

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