Category: Work

Handling Professional Conflicts With Bipolar Disorder

Handling Professional Conflicts With Bipolar Disorder

Author: Sam Bowman   Experiencing a professional conflict is never enjoyable. However, it is bound to happen from time to time. A staggering 85% of people experience workplace conflict to some degree. As someone living and working with bipolar disorder, you have...

Navigating the Work World as a Person With Bipolar Disorder

Navigating the Work World as a Person With Bipolar Disorder

By: Sam Bowman Living with bipolar disorder can negatively impact many areas of life. It can be especially problematic, however, when you’re trying to hold down a traditional job or expand your professional network. However, as long as you’re willing to put in the...

Hyperthymia and Bipolar: Mental Conditions that Helped Me — Until They Didn’t

Hyperthymia and Bipolar: Mental Conditions that Helped Me — Until They Didn’t

Author: General Gregg F. Martin, Phd, General Major, US Army Retired   From my teenage years on, I benefitted from what was a positive personality: high levels of energy, enthusiasm, drive, extroversion, positivity, happiness, and optimism.   This was the...

Bipolar: the Impact on Me and Others

Bipolar: the Impact on Me and Others

Author: Major General Gregg F. Martin, US Army Retired My brain burst into full-blown mania in 2014, at age 58.  This “late onset bipolar disorder” is rare, with only about five percent of diagnosed cases occurring this late in life.  I may have had undiagnosed...

My Successful Spending Techniques with Bipolar Disorder

My Successful Spending Techniques with Bipolar Disorder

Author: Margaret Fitzgerald As a youth, I was proud to earn and save money.  I recall being so excited when I had saved $1,000 for the first time.  I was seventeen and I felt as if I was on my way to having a great fund for college.   When I had my first mania,...

Getting Mental Health Right in Black History Month

Getting Mental Health Right in Black History Month

Author: Jayson Blair While Black Americans tend to experience similar rates of mental illness compared to other racial groups in the countries, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but there are strong important contextual differences that...

Being a General Officer with Bipolar Disorder

Being a General Officer with Bipolar Disorder

Author: Major General Gregg F. Martin, US Army Retired The Army I joined the US Army in 1975, at age 18.  My motivation for entering the US Military Academy at West Point was first and foremost, to obtain a top-notch education on a full scholarship. Once there, I...

Dream Hunting

Dream Hunting

Author: Claire Gault   Esmé Weijun Wang, one of my favorite mental wellness advocates, has a workshop called “Dream Hunting with Limitations.” To me, that title encapsulates everything I’ve been wanting to do since my diagnosis four years ago: actualize what I...

Toxic Work Environment = Neurological Assault

Toxic Work Environment = Neurological Assault

Author: Sasha Kildare   What if every Monday through Friday you were trapped in a room for eight hours with only 10 minutes in which to escape it? Unfortunately, I got to experience this particular brand of misery.   I just left the worst job I have ever...

Nothing to be Ashamed Of

Nothing to be Ashamed Of

Author: Natalia A. Beiser “Bipolar is not a disability.  They can take a pill and be okay.  Those people just need to go out and get a job.” The ignorance displayed in the above sentence is unreeling to me.  That person does not know of the financial devastation of a...

How Much Honesty Is Too Much Honesty?

How Much Honesty Is Too Much Honesty?

Author: Maria Eva Jacobs My name is Maria Eva Jacobs and I have lived with Bipolar Disorder my entire adult life. I’m here to tell you, there is life after diagnosis! Though still on medication, I live today in remission and while that is not a perfect walk, it is...

Resign or You’re Fired…

Resign or You’re Fired…

“Resign or you’re fired… You’ve done an amazing job, but you need to go get a mental health exam.” Author: Gregg F. Martin, PhD, Major General, US Army (Retired) It was mid-July 2014. I was 58 years old and after more than three decades in the Army, I was...

What Is It Like to Not Work Anymore?

What Is It Like to Not Work Anymore?

Author: Allison Hatch Many of you know all too well what it is like to live with multiple diagnoses.  For many others, I know you have probably have a similar tale like mine to tell, or maybe you support someone who cannot work right now, or even now you are trying to...

Mental Illness and the Workplace

Mental Illness and the Workplace

Author: Natalia Beiser   When I resigned my full time job in 2005 due to bipolar depression, I subsequently went on disability.  I spent countless years allowing my bipolar diagnosis to define how I should be treated in the workplace. Prior to going on disability, I...

Navigating Work Relationships and Mental Illness

Navigating Work Relationships and Mental Illness

Author: Violette Kay There are many reasons one might choose not to disclose their mental illness at work such as the fear of being judged and seen as a liability or the fear of losing your job. But you might not want to disclose it because you feel it is on a...

Bipolar Disorder And Work

Bipolar Disorder And Work

Help us win Healthline’s Best Health Blog of the Year! Vote for International Bipolar Foundation here.  Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the year 2009, I have struggled with coping, not only with my mood and personal life, but also with my...

The Working Wounded: Bipolar Disorder on the Job

The Working Wounded: Bipolar Disorder on the Job

This Labor Day has brought back a gloomy memory. “You’ve failed at everything you’ve ever done, Daddy, and you’ve been sick all of my life.” Those stinging words came from my then 27-year-old son.  He regretted saying that to me and apologized the next day. My...

How Should I Approach Stigma At Work?

How Should I Approach Stigma At Work?

At work the other day I heard someone say something disrespectful about people who live with bipolar disorder. I think they felt comfortable saying this in front of me because they did not know I have a mental illness. I was surprised and offended when I heard it, but...

Going Back to Work When You Have Bipolar Disorder

Going Back to Work When You Have Bipolar Disorder

When you’ve been newly diagnosed with bipolar, your world can get turned upside down. I know that mine did. A lot of people, myself included, just want things to go back to normal and get back to being a productive member of society. Understandable. But how do you...

No Two Snowflakes

No Two Snowflakes

I’ve always thought that if you have a shared experience, you will be more understanding and compassionate to those around you. Yet lately I find myself giving out a double standard. Especially when it comes to employment. I have many people in my life who live...

Possibilities in the New Year

Possibilities in the New Year

Often times, people are depressed after the holiday season for a variety of reasons, but the New Year brings with it new possibilities if we are open to them.  Every moment we are alive is a new moment so every moment brings a new possibility even though we may...

Becoming a Mommy with Bipolar Part Three: Returning to Work

Becoming a Mommy with Bipolar Part Three: Returning to Work

This is part three of a three part series: Part One: Planning for a Family When You Have BipolarPart Two: From Pregnant to Mommy Part Three: Returning to Work The next hurdle was returning to work. I’ve been back to work for almost 6 months now, and was...

You’re Much More Than a Bipolar Diagnosis: 7 Tips For Discovering Your Unique Strengths and Gifts

You’re Much More Than a Bipolar Diagnosis: 7 Tips For Discovering Your Unique Strengths and Gifts

As a counselor with a background in vocational rehabilitation, I’m a big believer in meaningful work for people with mental health disabilities – the research shows it’s an effective path toward recovery, and I’ve seen this firsthand over and over. In my last post, I...

Finding Work That Works When You Have Bipolar Disorder

Finding Work That Works When You Have Bipolar Disorder

I’m a psychotherapist who has worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor – that’s a specialist who helps people with disabilities, including bipolar disorder, find and keep meaningful work. I also have bipolar disorder myself, and have struggled over...

Coming Out of the Mental Health Closet at Work

Coming Out of the Mental Health Closet at Work

Hello, I’m Jessi.  I recently came out with my diagnosis at work on a large scale, by writing an article for our hospital bulletin. The response from friends, coworkers and strangers was so positive that it led me to find the confidence to start a blog about my...

A Day At The Office

I’m racing out the door with my work bag slung over my shoulder, a glass of water in one hand, and my handful of morning medications in the other. Anti-depressant? Check. Mood stabilizer? Check. Adderall? Check. Anti-anxiety? Check. I gulp them down with the...

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