"Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found. Each U.S. worker with bipolar disorder averaged 65.5 lost workdays in a year, compared to 27.2 for major depression. "

You must read the entire article to get the full picture. Our work place efficacy is something we talk about a lot on here so I thought I'd post this.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=51111&nfid=rssfeeds

I believe that. I have to take tons of time off to go to the doctor when I'm well just to have blood tests and do checkups then there's the time off when I've got the flu or whatever.

i made it to work 1 out of four days this week.

i believe it. and now it's the weekend and i have energy again. it fuckin sucks and i'm going to get fired. i know the only reason they haven't fired me is cause i've told them i have bipolar and they're worried about the legal ramifications and whatever. and cause when i'm manic i'm a super good worker.

i graduated. i'm smart. i have all the right connections and all the right opportunities, but this illness is just fucking up my chances at having a great career, let alone a good life.


blah.

It must be truly nice to be able to be medicated for Bipolar Disorder and function. I on the other hand cannot. I was taking 3 - 6 months off a year for the depressive states; I am one that was well beyond 65.5 days a year. This figure is very real.

I am now on VA disability and SSDI at 100%, so, don't be too quick to dismiss this study.

Wow - if people suffering from bipolar can't even agree that the illness causes us to miss work and be unproductive (not all the time, but surely during major depression), how does that bode for us ever being understood by anyone else in the workplace?!

I just lost three days of work due to being hospitalized for depression. Then there is the time off I take for doctors appointments. I can see the study as being truthful. When I'm at work I'm definatly one of the harder workers. I get a lot done. Even my boss says I'm hard working which is why he didn't get upset with me for losing 3days. He even wanted to make sure he wasn't the one who caused my depressive episode.

Sure, I can agree that it depends on the person. I have a feeling a lot of this has to do with how successful we are in finding a med that works. Some have great luck, and some of us spend years and years trying different meds to no avail.

I think we can agree that the degree to which bipolar disorder and our treatments affect our work productivity would be individual for each person. Like how a cold affects people, for instance. People with asthma and varying ways of treating their disease are definitely going to react differently to a common cold. Some may require hospitalization and miss work while others may get by with an extra breathing treatment and be fine. The fact is that even with the best treatment and management of our disorder, some will be able to accomplish more than others.



Kara

I was also on the over-work side. I definitely raised the bar on my old team. I got more done in a day than other people did in a week. I was the person everyone called for everything. Also, while there are lost work days for people who are hospitalized from depression, I don't see how this is any different from people being hospitalized for appendicitis, illnesses/diseases from obesity, people who miss work due to their children's illnesses, or illnesses from chronic smokers. In other words, why the focus on biopolar specifically?

Prince DepakoteWrote:
No way... I do twice to three times what my peers do in the workplace. In fact I have had several different sources tell me that my prodoctivity my be the cause of my peer problems: raising the bar. I build houses with nails. I'm bipolar, not stupid.

and if you did have problems with working, would that make you stupid? What's with the arrogance dude.