BipolarCentral
Your One Stop Source For Information On Bipolar Disorder

Loved One With Bipolar Disorder?
Discover How to Cope and Deal with
Your loved One's Bipolar Disorder

Do You Have Bipolar Disorder?
Learn the Secrets to Cope and Deal
With Your Bipolar Disorder

Child With Bipolar Disorder?
Learn How to REALLY Help
And Support Your Child

Dating Someone With Bipolar?
Secrets to a Successful
Relationship Revealed

Marrying Someone With Bipolar?
Learn How to Support Your Spouse
and Avoid Common Mistakes

Need Money Because of Bipolar Disorder?
Learn How to Be Successful Even if
You are Dealing with Bipolar Disorder

Drug Addiction and Bipolar Disorder
Secrets to Beating Drug Addiction
When Dealing with Bipolar Disorder

Need Affordable Health Insurance?
Information You Can't Live Without
If You are Dealing with Bipolar Disorder

In Debt Because of Bipolar Disorder?
Get out of debt fast!

Improve Your Emotional Health
Reduce Your Stress Levels and
Increase Your Brain Power

Working Man

Scott Wilkerson
Comments by Lori Wilkerson

For the most part I am thick-skinned. I can tell a joke about anybody and I don't mind being the punch line, either. Or at least I thought so, until a recent incident at work. I currently work at a national retail store chain until a real career comes along. My original shift was from 3:00am until 11:30 am or later. The hours themselves didn't bother me; it was the lack of sleep. I was taking 2-4 OTC sleeping pills a night along with a beer or two to try to get to sleep by 8:00 pm because it was such an unnatural schedule for me, but it didn't work.

After a few weeks of this, I asked my supervisor if I could switch to the 5:30am-1:00pm job, and I explained why, telling him about my bipolar disorder and the need for a structured schedule and plenty of sleep. I was impressed with how he handled the situation, and he now has me permanently on that job. It has worked out much better for me and for the store, because I am much more productive. My supervisor also makes an effort to encourage me and to observe my condition.

Lori's Turn: This kind of story is reassuring to me. I'm always relieved to hear that Scott has taken the chance to reveal to others that he has bipolar disorder and that people have responded in a supportive way. I know that he takes a huge emotional risk when he tells someone, particularly in the workplace, and the response of his supervisor tells me that we have come a long, long way.

One day I was feeling very down because of perceived problems at home. My supervisor approached me several times throughout the day to make sure I was okay and to see if there was anything he needed to do to help me. I was not only feeling emotionally down, but moving slowly and awkwardly, and was confused. I'm not sure if this is unique to me, but sometimes when I get depressed these physical symptoms show up as well. One other woman who works there in a different department noticed that things weren't right and checked on me more than a couple of times during her shift. I'm thankful for her part in getting me through that day.

Lori's Turn: the slow, awkward movements and confusion are familiar, but the reason behind them is a surprise to me! For years, I have suspected that Scott had a drug problem. I thought that he was, perhaps, self-medicating when he was upset, agitated or depressed, but could find no proof to confront him with. Since I didn't have any way to prove my suspicions, I said nothing, but worried myself sick. Think about it - awkward movements, confusion, slowed response times….

As it turns out, the perceived problem was cleared up, and actually never existed. My advice, make sure you know there is a problem before you torture yourself. I know this is much easier said than done. I am making a conscious effort to make this change in myself, I hope I can before I do anymore damage to the wonderful relationship I'm in now. We both have our faults, we are both guilty of doing terrible things to the other, but if I had to pick the undoing of us, it will be my insecurities, lack of self-confidence and paranoia's, courtesy of bipolar. I hope and pray that we make it, and I will be making an extreme effort to work on these problems.

Lori's Turn: Here's where Scott shows that his mind jumps around all the time. When he mentioned the perceived problem, he immediately was off on a tangent. Then he was off and running with that train of thought, which had nothing to do with the story about his job and the situation there, but it's interesting that he realizes that his paranoia was more the issue than any real problem.

Once again I've strayed way off topic. Several employees at the store carry walkie-talkies. When someone says something over them it can be heard throughout the store. This incident happened before the store was open for business, so no one from the "general" public heard the comment, however, several employees did hear it.

One morning, a female voice came over the walkie-talkie loud and clear and said "I need some more help, but don't send me any more suicidal ones; I have enough of those already."

Lori's Turn: Confession time - how many of us have said stupid, insensitive things like, "If I don't get this project done by Friday I'll slit my wrists," or "Do us all a favor and jump off a building?" when we are talking to people we don't know as well as we should? With the prevalence of depression, bipolar disorder and other forms of mood disorders in society today, we need to learn to stop tossing around insensitive references to suicide so lightly! We have no idea how much pain the person next to us is carrying around, and we can inflict an awful lot of unintentional pain with a few careless words.

I'm the first one to call myself crazy, insane, or whatever; and quite frankly I don't mind my friends and family who know about my condition joking around about it occasionally. It can help relieve the tension in some situations. I also firmly believe that in a private group you should be able to talk freely without being punished. If I had walked by and accidentally overheard something that was never meant to be heard by anyone else, I would never have pursued the matter. But what the woman on the walkie-talkie said was broadcast to every employee in the store, and she was well aware of this when she said it.

Even so, I debated for eight days whether or not to say something to the store executive. I finally did and he handled it quite well. I explained that the fact that she said it so that the whole store could hear was insensitive and wrong. The store executive and I had a long discussion about this and more specifically about my particular situation. He wanted to make sure that the hours were working out for me and assured me that if there was anything else he or the company could do to help me to just let him know directly, not to go through the "chain of command." It is his belief that bipolar disorder should be treated the same as any disability, and that ADA guidelines should be followed.

In the end, I feel that the store I work for handled the situation well. The store executive made sure that the situation was resolved, and they have been very supportive of my needs in terms of scheduling. My supervisor and most of the people I work with that are aware of my condition have been helpful and given me lots of support and encouragement. When I stood up for my rights, the company listened and helped me out. It is possible to reveal that you are bipolar in the workplace and have it be successful.

About the Authors

Lori Wilkerson and Scott Wilkerson are brother and sister and contributing writers for BipolarCentral.com.

Back to Article List

This Week's Bipolar News

Living With Bipolar Depression
North American Press Syndicate  
(NAPSI)-The more you know about a condition such as bipolar disorder, and in particular the depressive episodes of the condition, the better able you may be ...

Harvard Psychiatrist Must Suspend Clinical Trials Over Conflicts
InjuryBoard.com
The New York Times reports, “Dr. Biederman’s work helped to fuel a 40-fold increase from 1994 to 2003 in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder and a ...

Fortunate Folks Like To Give Back
Detroit Free Press  
"It came out of the pain I had inside of me for many years," said Prechter, whose Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund supports groundbreaking genetic ...

Click here for all Bipolar News.

Featured Article:

Being the Ultimate Perfectionist

                                                           By Michele Soloway Sexton

I am the ultimate perfectionist.  Yes, me.  I even got a fortune cookie one time that said, "You have a yearning for perfection," do you believe that?"  Even Confucius knows it!

But it's a real battle for me.  I expect things from myself that I would never expect from anyone else, and it really messes with my bipolar disorder, because, well, no one's perfect, and no one can live with that kind of stress.

So I was talking to someone about it lately, and they told me, "It's ok to strive for perfection, as long as you don't expect to arrive at perfection."

It's ok to make mistakes.  That's what I've been learning.  If you don't learn that, you'll be bound up in fear (another thing that's bad for our bipolar disorder). 

Click here to read the entire article

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy

Copyright 2004-2008, BipolarCentral.com