Retirement Blues: The silent struggle with depression

Guwahati:  "I felt a sudden loss of motivation to wake up early in the morning, a sense of restlessness grabbed me," recalled a retired Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) employee, reflecting on his first day post-retirement.

Retirement, often touted as the culmination of a lifetime of hard work and dedication, can be a daunting and isolating experience for many. The abrupt shift away from a structured routine and social connections can leave individuals feeling adrift, vulnerable, and disconnected from the world around them.

For some, the transition to retirement can trigger a descent into depression, a silent and insidious condition that can erode joy, relationships, and even the will to live. As the days blend in a haze of emptiness, the dreams of a relaxing and fulfilling post-work life begin to fade, replaced by the harsh reality of a mental health crisis. However, this may not be the case for many.

The IOCL employee, to overcome the restlessness, kept himself busy with social work and enrolling in senior citizen clubs.

When The Assam Tribune contacted Dr. Mythili Hazarika, head of the Clinical Psychology Department of Gauhati Medical College, she informed that one cannot claim retirement as the cause of depression for the elderly. However, retirement is a significant life transition, as people are often busy balancing their work and life, and this sudden change might have an impact on their mental health. “But this impact on mental health might be positive or negative depending on the individual’s personality, pre-retirement planning, family support, physical health, human connections and so on. If the individual has these strengths, then he or she might not be prone to depression.”

“An employed person is mostly on a strict schedule of waking up at a particular time and plans their daily activities accordingly, however, after retirement, the routine gets disrupted, leading to boredom, low motivation, feeling aimless, and so on. Some people might have difficulty with time management, disruption in sleep patterns, decrease in productivity and disorganisation in life, affecting negatively on mental health,” she explained.

The former Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, retired in 2020 (currently serving as Chairman of Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission), shared about the first thought that came to his mind when he woke up the first day right after retirement. He said, “36 years of full-time service, after that, all of a sudden, you don’t have anything to do today. That was both a feeling of losing something and a sense of relief. But I didn’t feel this on the first day, right after my retirement. The feeling comes slowly after a couple of days when you realise that your importance is decreasing. One necessarily doesn’t feel depressed but has this sensation that the world has changed.”

"Psychologically, when working, we have a purpose in life, and this work becomes our identity. For instance, most civil servants lose their powers and status post-retirement. If these tags are their only identity and define their happiness, then it might affect them post-retirement, as when they lose them, some people feel worthless," Dr Hazarika said.

In this regard, the former Chief Secretary said, “We cannot exactly say this, but of course, a ‘chair’ is something which gives you respect, power and so many other things. However, in the journey of one’s life, you can have a lot of other things, for instance, good friends, other interests, etc. If you have an interest in things and activities other than your work, you won’t feel totally lost once you retire.”

Furthermore, social life can also be a factor in depression because some people socialise through work. These people work till 5-6 pm and form a social circle with their colleagues, not wishing to widen it outside their office. Post-retirement, people lose this social circle and become isolated, the psychologist said.

Highlighting the social factor, IAS Officer (Retd.) Sanjay said, “What I believe is that a working person should gain interest in activities other than their daily work, like playing tennis, cricket, watching movies, going out with friends for dinner, etc. I did these things while in service because I feel one shouldn’t limit the circle within colleagues but instead widen their friends circle from different fields such as school friends, college friends, people you met in community clubs, etc. If you confine yourself to the people with whom you work, you will feel lost after you retire.”

Dr Hazarika further emphasised that depression is a chemical imbalance of the brain, so everyone necessarily has depression. These might be factors, but everyone doesn't need to go this way after retirement. Those with proclivity or risk factors such as being genetically prone to depression are more likely to have depression. If their parents had depression or any psychiatric issue, then these stress factors might diagnose them with depression during old age.