Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 28, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance
Published on: July 19, 2017
"I get anxious about looking anxious": A qualitative study of anxiety, depression, and workplace productivity among
1London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
Background And Objective:
Anxiety and depression are increasingly prevalent in working populations. This secondary analysis of qualitative workplace interviews develops a theoretical model of how these conditions interact with workplace structures to affect professional behaviour and productivity.
Methods:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 189 professionals across multiple sectors in the United Kingdom between January 2023 and February 2025. Using reflexive thematic analysis, I identified 38 participants who, against pre-specified inclusion criteria, explicitly reported living with anxiety, depression, or both, and analysed their accounts in depth.
Results:
Six interconnected themes emerged: (1) the disclosure dilemma, (2) identity-threat vigilance, (3) compensatory masking, (4) the productivity paradox, (5) managerial mediation, and (6) intersectional compounding. These themes are integrated into the Concealment-Disclosure-Adaptation (CDA) Model, which theorises that workers with anxiety and depression navigate a cyclical process of concealment, selective disclosure, and behavioural adaptation shaped by perceived psychological safety and intersecting identity characteristics.
Conclusions:
The CDA Model extends existing frameworks by foregrounding the dynamic, context-dependent nature of mental health management at work and its bidirectional relationship with productivity. The findings imply that encouraging openness about mental health at work is insufficient without managerial practices that favour practical flexibility over evaluative scrutiny, and without equity-informed support for workers facing compound stigma, for whom disclosure carries the greatest risk.
Related Concept Videos
Anxiety: Overview
Individuals with anxiety often experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including sweating, trembling, tachycardia, and disturbances in sleep patterns. These symptoms vary in intensity and frequency but are generally disruptive and distressing.
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques II
Type A Personality: Driven and Easily Stressed
Individuals with Type A personalities are often highly competitive and ambitious and operate with a strong sense of urgency. Commonly labeled as "workaholics," they...
Stress and Mental Health
Individuals with depression often experience challenges in both their personal and professional...
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Psychological Responses to Stress
