If you are feeling depressed at work, you may feel that depression is something that you must handle on your own. However, there are ways in which you can expect to receive compensation for depression that you are experiencing as a result of your work. This is influenced by whether your depression arises from your injuries or whether the depression stands alone.

Injury-Related Depression

Workers who experience severe injuries and are unable to work will often experience depression. Because depression is often not recognized right away, it is recommended that workers speak with a qualified therapist after sustaining a serious injury in order to determine if you are suffering from depression so that the condition can be treated. If the work injury is a scheduled claim and the depression is the result of the injury, you may be able to receive compensation as a result of the injury. Research has found that those who have suffered from a workplace injury are more likely to suffer from depression than those who haven't.

Depression Alone

If you are suffering from depression that is not the result of an injury that you have suffered, there is a different process for determining whether you should receive compensation for your depression. There would need to be an event that has lead to your depression, such as suffering from an unusual level of stress at the workplace. It must be established by a professional that there was causation between the workplace environment and the depression event. The event could include a sales representative who fails to secure a major deal that would have a large impact on the representative's career advancements.

Costs That Are Covered

There are many things that can be covered under worker's compensation. These include prescription costs, the mileage for traveling to and from healthcare providers, permanent impairment, the cost of receiving therapy, and any death payments that would be the result of a death caused by the patient's depression.

Reasons Why You Might Not Be Eligible

There are some cases where you might not be eligible for worker's compensation for your depression. For instance, if there was another event in your life that contributed to your depression, or if you already had a history of depression, this could affect your chances of receiving compensation. Also, if you violated a work policy and this lead to you becoming injured, both your injury and the depression that resulted might not be covered.

For more information, contact a business such as Oxner + Permar, LLC.