Feeling guilty because you survived a layoff? ... You're not alone.

Many employees laid off during a company downsizing go through an emotionally wrenching experience. Yet coworkers who remain with their employers have similar reactions. They often face a gamut of emotions ranging from guilt that they are survivors, to feelings of sadness because of the loss of coworkers.

"You don't want to refer to the laid-off people as the only people affected by layoffs, because everybody is affected," asserts Joel Brockher. "There is a tendency to overlook survivors."

Brockner is a professor of management at Columbia University's graduate business school in New York City. He and two other experts were interviewed to find out how remaining employees can cope with "layoff survivor sickness" also called survivor guilt.

Michael Perlman, principal with M&S Employee Assistance Programs in Burbank, Calif., says he has dealt with many such cases. He's found most survivors share the same feelings. "There is a kind of depression and numbness that sets in [for survivors]. There's nagging guilt because you survived and others didn't.

"It is similar to what happens to people who survive [a disaster such as an airplane crash]. In an organization, the feelings may not be as severe but there is the sense that 'Hey, I could be next.'"

Adds Brockner, "Guilt is just one of a constellation of reactions that survivors might have. Most people are going through a fair amount of turmoil, guilt, anger and anxiety. A lot are feeling pretty stressed out."

In his book "Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations," David Noer writes that both laid-off and surviving employees share many of the same emotional feelings and that survivors have about as hard a time dealing with these feelings as do those who leave the organization.

"Layoff survivors cope with their feelings in ways that are neither personally healthy nor organizationally productive," writes Noer. He is vice president for training and education at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C. Because they are dealing with such emotions, survivors, he says, often avoid appropriate risk-taking, have lower productivity and have an "unquenchable thirst for information."

Brockner, an author of several papers about survivor guilt, agrees. "When people react negatively to change like downsizing, it shows up in reduced productivity and reduced morale. The real cause is that people feel a threat to their self-esteem - to who they are as people and that drives the reduction in productivity and morale."

Noer believes that the people who will have the most severe cases of layoff survivor sickness are those who built their lives around their employer. "Those employees who bought into the old psychological contract that who you are is where you work [will most likely get layoff survivor sickness]," Noer said in an interview. "The ones that won't are those who define themselves as more than their job. They define themselves within their community, within their profession."

Noer says employees who "break the chain of codependence [with their employer] are immune" to survivor sickness. He says layoff survivor sickness is a symptom, and that unhealthy dependence on the organization is the disease.

So, what can you do to minimize the effect of layoff survivor sickness?

"Anything that the individual or the organization can do to help the individual regain self-esteem or control is the antidote," advises Brockner.

"Within the work place, people might want to take on a new responsibility, take a lateral job move or a job enrichment program. If the organization doesn't initiate such things, then it is up to the individual to initiate it so that if another downsizing takes place, they have more options."

Both Noer and Perlman advise surviving employees to discuss their feelings with others. "You need to talk about and work through those negative emotions so you can get back to productivity much faster," advises Noer.

"People who are good survivors have a support system," he says. "If that support system doesn't happen at work, it doubles the stress outside work." Noer recommends that employees create their own support systems that could include family and friends, as well as professional, fraternal and religious organizations.

Perlman urges survivors to talk among themselves. "Sharing [feelings] with people going through the same thing is one of the most effective ways ]to deal with layoff survivor sickness]. Also, doing physically active things like exercise and doing things that are self-caring - not self-indulgent like eating a box of chocolates are important."

By self-caring, Perlman means that you should do things that make you feel good about yourself, such as going away for a weekend, undertaking a new hobby or learning a new skill that could expand your employment options.

Regardless of whether you are a survivor or a laid-off employee, it is important to view layoffs in a positive light, says Noer. "It has to be seen as a positive rite of departure," he emphasized.

"You should celebrate people leaving. It ought to be seen as part of the psychological contract [with your employer]. We are all temps. And since we are all temps and will leave at some point, that leaving should be very natural."

Bill Spaniel, ABC, is editor, Southern California Gas Co., Los Angeles.