It is Saturday afternoon and a dozen or so men and women are gathered in a nondescript room in central Tokyo, working intently on a presentation that will have a bearing on their future careers. They do not work for the same organisation and the exercise is not directly related to their jobs. But the session is part of a programme run by MDA Japan, a non-profit organisation that supports people with mood disorders, and the participants are here to achieve a common goal – to return to work after suffering from depression.
Their task is to answer questions that have been put to them about their experience, with each member taking turns to summarise the answers provided by others in their group. In answer to the question about the reaction at work to their condition, one of the men says: “My boss told me: ‘You are not depressed.’”
While some say their managers were sympathetic, another participant met an angry response from his manager, who said: “I took so much care of you and you betrayed me.”