A survey of 17,000 Australians found that nearly 10 percent of white collar professionals "reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms" - as opposed to 6.3 percent of the general population. Lawyers were the most depressed, with a rate of 16 percent. Accountants and insurance underwriters had a rate of 10 percent, and IT workers, engineers and architects also had high rates. So did students. Those who were both depressed and under 30 were the most likely to "'self-medicate' with drugs and alcohol."

It is perhaps telling that both students and white collar professionals have high rates of depression, as both groups are compelled to place high expectations on themselves which they cannot always meet. The effect of high expectations is compounded by work pressures imposed by employers. The legal profession is particularly bad in that respect, and the authors of the survey construe the average age of pregnancy among female lawyers in Australia - 39 - as evidence of the "all-or-nothing pressure" placed on those in the field.

"White collar workers 'more depressed'" from Nine MSN (Australia)