Pros And Cons Of Disclosing Ptsd Diagnosis To My Manager?

[Bedbug]

When I was first signed off work my doctor diagnosed me with depression and that is what he wrote on my note for my employer. I was later diagnosed with PTSD as well but my doctor said that there was no need to tell my employer that and continued putting "depression" as the reason I was unfit to work on subsequent notes. He said that this was vague enough to ensure my privacy while also being accurate enough to cover what my employer needed to know.

I am starting to think about returning to work on a part time basis and have been thinking about what accommodations I would need in order to do so. I have spent the past two days trying to compose an email to my manager to tell him that I hope to be back at work soon and to explain what I will be able to do and what I will need help with. I have no reason to think that he'll have a problem with anything I have said. And I haven't mentioned PTSD.

I get on well with my manager and, as my job involves supporting people with mental health issues, I am confident that he would be understanding and supportive if I told him that I have PTSD in addition to depression. However, I don't quite know whether I want to tell him, or what good it would do me. I feel like I want the protection of my full diagnosis but I guess "depression" does explain the accommodations I need to get back to work. It covers fatigue and the need to work reduced hours; it covers anxiety and the need for unpredictable breaks or missed shifts; it covers poor memory and concentration and the need to have support from colleagues; it covers stress and the need to avoid certain tasks and situations. I know it isn't the full story, but does that matter?

I have spoken to two colleagues who will be working on site with me (unlike my manager) and told them my full diagnosis and also a little of the background. I trust them to keep this confidential.

I would be interested to know what others think. Would there be any real benefit to telling my manager my full diagnosis? Could it actually do me any harm? Has my doctor done me a favour by not mentioning it?

 

[Overcast]

Your doctor has done you a favor. I shared my disease process and it harmed me. I thought by working in healthcare I would get the support I needed. It did from some but not others. Keeping that seperate from work is wise.

 

[Hashi]

I'm not sure I agree. If you're supporting people with mental health problems you need to think about what's fair to them - if you misrepresent your issues as something else, where does that leave things?

You seem to have decided that a different diagnosis covers everything you need. I'm curious - if that's the case, why worry about diagnoses at all? I'm especially curious if you work in the mental health field - what do you see as the point of diagnosis? What does that mean for your service users? Because if it works for you, it needs to work for them too.

 

[Bedbug]

Hi @Hashi. Thanks for the reply. I appreciate what you're getting at and I think it partly explains my discomfort about withholding my full diagnosis from my manager.

I don't want to say too much about the organisation I work for as I am still keen to maintain anonymity. However, I can say that none of us are medical professionals and we play no part in diagnosis. People are referred to us by the Community Mental Health Team for practical assistance which does not require us to know anything about their mental health. Sometimes we do get to know a little about their background, but often we just have a name.

Only disclosing half of my diagnosis (depression) to my manager may be enough to explain the accommodations I need him to agree to before I can return to work. If that is the case, then I wonder if there is any point in disclosing the other half of my diagnosis (PTSD). It might help with things I haven't yet thought of, and it might just be nice to be fully open with my manager, but I'm just a little nervous about disclosing it now and then regretting it later. Especially if I didn't need to. I think he will be understanding and supportive, but I don't know for sure.

However, even if this partial diagnosis does cover what I need at work, it definitely doesn't cover everything I need in terms of treatment and recovery. Obviously, that part is massively important to me. Finding out that I had PTSD in addition to depression made sense of what I was experiencing and led me down paths I wouldn't otherwise have considered.

Sorry if I'm still being a bit unclear. It's been a difficult evening.

 

[BLHutch]

I am lucky to work in an environment that is friendly towards people with PTSD. I teach at a community college and with the large number of veteran students that we have, most of our faculty and administrators are at least a little bit familiar with what it is. That said, only a few trusted friends know that I have it. Since, as of now, it doesn't really effect my ability to do my job and I don't need any accommodations, it isn't that big of a deal. However, if in the future I think that I may need to ask for some, then I'll make my department chair and HR aware of the issue.

You know your work environment better than we do, and so if you feel comfortable sharing more with them, then it would be worth considering. Again, don't do anything that you aren't comfortable doing. I kind of feel that less is more sometimes, you know. So if what you have from your doctor is enough to get you what you need, that may be a good starting point.

 

[VT86]

My managers know. There have been good and bad consequences to this. They are more understanding of my needing time off and why I sometimes act the way I do. One of my bosses is usually very careful not to startle me, and I appreciate that.

On the other hand I sometimes feel like it has held me back as far as being given new responsibilities and they seem to love making it a point of saying on my quarterly reviews that I need to be more open with my coworkers. Even when I do improve they acknowledge it but say that I need to continue to improve. It makes me feel like no matter how hard I try I will never be the people person they seem to want me to be.:(