It is one of the most fascinating and consoling features of the life of Sir Winston Churchill that, for all his giant strengths of courage and resilience, he was also prone to bouts of depression. He called it his “Black Dog”. And there was only one means by which he really succeeded in chasing that Black Dog away. It certainly wasn’t alcohol. It was the same therapy that lifts the spirits of hundreds of millions if not billions of people around the world – and that cure is work.
In Churchill’s case that meant the almost superhuman production of books, speeches and articles. He wrote more words than Dickens and Shakespeare combined – and that is before we have even considered his epic memoranda, or the industriousness of his oil painting.
It was with work that he pitchforked off his depression; and what was true for Churchill is basically true for all of us: that to a very large extent we derive our self-esteem from what we do. It is often from our jobs – from being engrossed in our daily tasks – that we get that all-important sense of satisfaction.
Yes, it is work that sometimes stresses us out, and work that causes anxiety; but it is also work that can absorb us and take us out of ourselves until the clouds have gone.
Same Difference 
As Same Difference well knows this ‘Work is the cure for illness isn’t a new thing Many have spoken out for many years Here’s one blogger @Skwawkbox 2013 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/30/demonise-demoralise-jobseekers-meaningless-test
Off topic or is it … How Britain’s welfare state has been taken over by shadowy tech consultants
Political choices made in the rush to ‘digital by default’ benefits, such as universal credit, have eroded people’s rights
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/27/britain-welfare-state-shadowy-tech-consultants-universal-credit
Joblessness branded a mental illness 2016 https://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/joblessness-branded-a-mental-illness-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-or-sanctions/