Bipolar disorder (or manic depression or bipolar affective disorder) is a diagnosis defined by periods of extreme and often inappropriate mood states. People may experience severe depression on some occasions and extreme mania (positive mood, high energy and unusual thought patterns) during others. Manic periods have also been associated with high productivity in the workplace and increased creativity.
Currently there are four subtypes of bipolar disorder, however they generally refer to different severity of symptoms. People may stay in one subtype or change into another over the course of their illness.
Bipolar disorder has often been linked to various anxiety disorders and substance dependencies.
Symptoms and characteristics
During episodes of depression, a person would demonstrate some or all of the general symptoms common to clinical or major depression, such as:
- an unusually sad mood that does not go away
- difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- a loss of enjoyment and interest in activities that used to be enjoyable
- a lack of energy and tiredness
- loss of confidence or poor self-esteem
- feeling guilty when not really at fault
- moving more slowly or, sometimes, becoming agitated and unable to settle
- having sleeping difficulties or, sometimes, sleeping too much
- suicidal thoughts (in severe cases).
However, a manic episode is more often characterised by:
- increased energy and over-activity (can become highly goal orientated, driven and hardworking in the workplace)
- positive mood, happy, full of energy, on top of the world, invincible
- needing less sleep than usual (can go for days with very little sleep)
- irritability if others disagree with their unrealistic plans or ideas
- rapid thinking and speech, talks too much, too fast, keeps changing topics
- lack of inhibitions (disregards risks, spends money extravagantly, drives recklessly)
- grandiose delusions (very inflated self-esteem; believe they are superhuman, especially talented, an important religious figure)
- lack of insight (convinced that their manic delusions are real and that they do not realize they are ill).
Statistics
In any given year 1 per cent of both men and women experience bipolar disorder (Depression-Management.info 2007).
Workplace adjustments and solutions
In the workplace there are various factors that would greatly assist those with bipolar disorder to better manage their symptoms. These include:
- flexible work arrangements, including leave
- reducing responsibilities or workload and subsequent stress levels
- restructuring the work environment, for example using privacy screens and reducing colour schemes to plain colours—not bright
- a good support network.
There are solutions and adjustments for the following job requirements:
Case studies and success stories
For job seekers and employees:
For service providers:
References
Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Mental Health Council Inc. & Kitchener, B., A. & Jorm, A., F. at ORYGEN Research Centre, University of Melbourne 2006, Mental Health First Aid in the Workplace—an e-learning course, Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Canberra.
beyondblue 2004, What is Depression?, beyondblue: the national depression initiative, Sydney, viewed 24 February 2007 <http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?link_id=1.3>.
Depression-Management.info 2007, Depression statistics, Depression-Management.info, US, viewed 7 April 2007, <http://www.depression-management.info/statistics.html>.