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Chase Jarman
English 2010
Final Paper
Jim Beatty
Bipolar Disorder
Going to work everyday is hard as it is. Doing the same thing over and over can
become very boring and can have a lot of strain on all of someone's emotions. At times
it can be very difficult to find the motivation to go to work. Now just imagine if someone
had bipolar disorder on top of all these conditions. Living with this disease is hard as is,
but when someone has to go to work everyday and be surrounded by people who do
not understand why they act the way they do, that in itself can be too difficult. People
who have a clinically proven bipolar disorder should be able to qualify for government
disability.
Bipolar is a disease that affects one's ability to have control over their emotions.
It takes only one thing to severely anger them. Or it can go the other way around, it
takes only one little thing for them to be extremely happy. Like for instance, if you do
something simple for someone with bipolar, they could become extremely happy.
People with bipolar have over stimulated emotions. They will go through lots of really
angry stages, and really happy stages. This is extremely unhealthy for someone to go
through. In some of the most severe cases these moods can last up to months at a
time. The levels of anger and happiness vary, but there are some cases where the level
of anger can end up in physical abuse. That abuse can be self afflicted or it can be

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directed to others around him or her. No one wants to work around someone where
there is a higher chance of abuse.
When it comes to the workplace, the majority of people do not want to work with
someone who does not have control over their own emotions. I can only imagine what it
is like to deal with someone that can go from one emotion to the next in only seconds. I
have been surrounded by a lot of people who suffer from bipolar. My uncle has clinically
proven bipolar disorder. During family parties, my uncle was not fun to be around
because you never knew what he was going to do. Now think of someone that strongly
dislikes work. The chances of them being angry are very high due to the fact they do not
want to be at work in the first place. In this situation, this will benefit no one. It only takes
one person in the group to put everyone in a bad mood. The last thing that they are
going to want to do is work. Not only will their level of productivity go down, but those
around them are not going to want to work as hard if they see someone getting away
with not working very hard.
Not only will people with bipolar have an extreme lack of motivation to work
while they are caught in bad moods, but with bipolar also comes a higher risk of suicide.
When hiring someone with bipolar there will be a higher risk of them committing suicide
while working for you. There was a study that was just done and in that study it says, It
is estimated that 25-50% of patients with bipolar disorder attempt suicide at least once,
and 33-80% of patients with bipolar disorder report suicidal ideation and/ or suicide
attempts during their lifetime (Umamaheswari, 2014). This is just one statistic that goes
to show the people who have bipolar do not think like a normal functioning adult. The
same study indicated that the ratio for suicide attempt against completed suicide is 3:1

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for those diagnosed with bipolar disorder. For the general population, that ratio is 30:1.
This again is just one of many statistics that goes to show the bipolar population does
not think like the regular population. With that being said, most of them can not function
like the regular population either. That is another reason why I think those who are
clinically diagnosed with bipolar disorder should be on government disability.
Some may say that they can just be on medication that will help them. In some of
the cases that is true, but in other cases that is not always the solution. When someone
is given pills it cover up the problem it does not cure the disease. With that being said
there is always a chance that they will have an emotional break down. The pills that
they are given are not guaranteed to work the first time that they use them. In some of
the cases (my uncle included) they have to take a lot of pills to see which one will work
the best. Not only do they have to take a lot of pills but they will also go through some
time where they will have to try a lot of combinations of pills also. While they are going
through this stage their behavior is a lot more unpredictable. The doctors have a good
idea on what the pills will do to the patients, but everyone reacts differently to certain
pills. Some of the pills that they are given have no positive effect on them. While they
are at work it would be hard to rely on a pill to control one's emotions if they don't even
know if it will work or not. During the process of finding the correct pill some of the pills
may have a negative effect on some of the other illnesses that are connected with
bipolar.
In another 2009 there was an article that came out and said, The majority of
patients with bipolar disorder (60%) suffer from one or more comorbid illnesses
(Manning, 2015). People with bipolar have multiple illnesses that are linked to bipolar

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disorder. Some of those illnesses are anxiety, depression, and they also have a higher
chance of suicide. So not only do they have to deal with bipolar but there is a lot of other
illnesses that they will have to deal with too. According to that same article the two most
common illnesses are anxiety and substance abuse. When there is bipolar on top of
substance abuse, there is a higher chance of them not being able to function on a
normal level. It was hard for them to function with just bipolar and substance abuse
enhances all of the negative effects. When you put all of those things on top of bipolar it
seems impossible for anyone to have even the smallest control on any emotion. From
personal experience, whenever I have really bad anxiety it is hard for me to make the
correct decisions in certain situations. Not only is it hard to make a decision when
someone has high levels of anxiety, but adding anger into play is a guarantee that any
decision made in this moment will not be thought about before it takes place. This goes
to show that people with bipolar disorder should be able to qualify for disability.
After talking to my uncle who suffers from bipolar I learned a lot on what it was
like to go to work with this disease. There were times when he was beyond mad at
someone but he could not think of a good reason as to why he was so mad. The last
thing that I want in the workplace is someone who is mad for no reason. Some of the
time they do not have a reason to be mad, and in other instances their reason is
something so little that they average person wouldn't even have a second thought about
it.
To get diagnosed properly we must make sure we send everyone to a
psychologist. It is extremely important to make sure the patients is diagnosed correctly,
because if not it will only make everything worse. The sooner someone is diagnosed the

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better. In 2006 there was an article that contained this statement, In addition, 60% of
misdiagnosed felt that physicians had an inadequate understanding of bipolar disorder
(Culpepper, 2015). Bipolar disorder is a mental disease so in order to get a proper
diagnoses they need to see a psychologist not a physician. Not only is it difficult to
make an appointment with a psychologist, but it is also really expensive. The second
option they have is a physician. A physician does not know a lot about bipolar so it is
hard for them to diagnose the disease properly. With all of this being said it is hard for
the average person to understand the disease bipolar. The ones who truly know a lot of
the reasons as to why they act the way they do is a psychologist.
After all of this is said and done it is nearly impossible for the average person to
understand how someone could not have control over their own emotions. With the lack
of knowledge we will never understand how hard it really is for someone with bipolar to
work with others. If someone is not capable to work they should not be expected to
work. Therefore they should be government funding available. There are millions of
people who have physical disabilities and they do not have to work because they are
not physically capable to do simple tasks. The same goes for those who have bipolar. It
is a mental disability that sometimes keeps them from being able to do expected work
objectives. That is why I believe people who are clinically diagnosed with bipolar
disorder, should be able to qualify for government assisted disability funding.

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References
Culpepper, Larry. "Pathways To The Diagnosis Of Bipolar Disorder." Journal Of
Family Practice (2015): S4-S9. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Manning, J. Sloan. "Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar Depression, And Comorbid Illness."
Journal Of Family Practice (2015): S10-S15. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12
Oct. 2015.
Umamaheswari, Vanamoorthy, Ajit Avasthi, and Sandeep Grover. "Risk Factors
For Suicidal Ideations In Patients With Bipolar Disorder." Bipolar Disorders16.6
(2014): 642-651. PsycINFO. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.