People have been buzzing about "the list". You know that list of occupations that is more likely to lead to depression. Or at least have depressed workers. So just in case you were wondering or not:) - I'm asking: Is your job depressing?

According to a recent National Survey On Drug Use and Health, they have been following workers (ages 18 to 64) in category specific fields from 2004 to 2006 and have found some significant data.

1. The highest rates of depression (Major Depressive Disorder) was found among full-time workers in the personal care and service occupations and the food preparation and serving related occupations.

In plain language, that's a stat telling us what we already knew right? The workers caring for our elderly parents in nursing homes may not be giving them the best care because they are clinically depressed, and the girl that took your order at McDonalds™ angrily handed you your order because she is suffering from depression too.

I think it's safe to say -- we knew it all along!

2. It's probably no surprise that women had a higher rate of depression than men across the board, but what was also interesting was that jobs that were held more by women such as personal care, food preparation, and social services were had the highest rates of depression and occupations with low female employment such as farming & fishing, construction, and repair workers had low rates of depression.

3. Another connection I found with the occupations scoring some of the lowest depression scores such as engineering jobs, architecture, and science jobs is that these jobs have little interaction with other people. Most of the jobs with high customer contact etc. were the most depressing.

That makes sense, people can drive you to nuts.

4. I also see somewhat of a connection, that jobs that require more specific knowledge such as engineering or science had a lower rate of depression. Perhaps suggesting that if you bothered to go get a degree in that field - that you must really like it:) Also those jobs may pay a lot better then the jobs located at the top of the depression scale.

Of course there were exceptions to that - financial, legal, and mathematicians didn't fare so well. They were in the median.

All in all, I think that you can see that if you are a woman (in particular, and you work a low-paying service job, you have a higher chance of suffering from a major depressive disorder. Something we probably already knew, but needed to be reminded of. While work of any kind is precious in this economy, just be sure to try and practice self-care.

• Regular doctor visits
• Stress relief like massage or exercise
• Plenty of safe sex
• Communicate with family and friends
• Talk to a professional when needed

If you'd like to view the full survey, click here.

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Lisa Angelettie, "GirlShrink" is an online advice authority. Her site GirlShrink.com is the #1 "Advice & Counseling" site on the web and contributing author of "101 Great Ways To Improve Your Life". Instantly get a FREE Bonus when you sign up for her free Better Choices Ezine. Please visit us for more discussion on this topic in the depression forum to talk about it further. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for topics in the news, new articles, website & book reviews, and other useful mental health resources. Subscribe below.