Posted on 01/30/2010 11:41:53 AM PST by j_marie
Given the protections of the ADA and the FMLA, there is no need to hesitate to disclose your bipolar condition to your employer. Federal Law gives you a legal right to request reasonable changes in your workplace that will enable you to perform your job duties and to request time off when you are actively suffering the symptoms of bipolar. Does this mean that you have the right to call off sick with a bad mood?
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It’s Freakin’ insane! Everyone can claim a mental illness when they are feeling sorry for themselves or just plain lazy!
More baloney.
For my own part, were I an employer, I’d be inclined to allow sick days for bad bouts of mood disorders only if a physician had prescribed a course of psychotropic medication for the disorder.
(On a related note, I personally wish the diagnostic criteria for ADHD included paradoxical reactions to stimulants. This would distinguish between a physiological problem and just being high-spirited or flighty.)
I once had the misfortune of working for a person who was an idiot, was bipolar, and suffered for adult ADHD. I would gladly have donated all my sick days to him just to stay at home and not create chaos and havoc at work. I spent 8 hours a day doing my job and 4 hours a day and 12 hours on Saturday undoing the damage he did. I lucked out when he left the organization which is running much better without him.
Anyone who considers BiPolar Disorder is fortunate to not have known anyone who suffers from the disease. It’s an eye-opener.
I have no problem whatsoever about taking a sick day when I need a mental/emotional break from my job.
I accrue sick leave from my employer, and I’m entitled to use it. As long as I’m not using more than I’ve accrued, what’s the issue?
Sick leave is there to be used. It’s better for the company for me to be mentally and emotionally well-rested and alert, and thus do my job to the best of my abilities, than to show up and do a half-assed job.
Sorry
Anyone who considers BiPolar Disorder to be a "bad mood" is fortunate to not have known anyone who suffers from the disease. It’s an eye-opener.
Makes sense to me. I have anxiety and depression, and I don’t see the point of going to work or school when you know you won’t be able to function, much less get any work done, and that you’re going to be a drag on your colleagues.
I heard something like this on Prager’s radio show one time. It was either from one of his guests or an article. Some country in Europe where they had a huge percentage of people that didn’t work because they were depressed. Of course, they were compensated for their illness. That’s where we are headed.
Mental standards for a first-class airman medical certificate are:
(a) No established medical history or clinical diagnosis of any of the following:
...
(3) A bipolar disorder.
...
As someone who has managed bi-polar disorder (cyclothymia/hypomania) since my teenage years (and has never missed a single workday due to anything but the flu--maybe 5 days total in 35 years), I can safely say this is a very stupid question.
I think the author meant well, but bi-polars do not have bad moods any more than the general population. When a full-blown bi-polar has (as many do) a psychotic episode, they usually end up in the hospital or the morgue or jail. And in the midst of the depression swing, it is certainly not a single day of bad mood.
Mental illness is not a joke and references to bad moods trivializes just how life threatening it can be.
BTW, in many cases, bi-polar illness doesn't have to prevent a successful career, education, marriage, or life (in fact, many bi-polars are at the top of their college class and at the top of their profession). But it does require tremendous drive and determination to manage successfully.
Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) was a Norwegian polar explorer who was the first person to fly over the North Pole in a dirigible (May 11-13, 1926) and was the first person to reach the South Pole.
At my wife’s place of work there is a woman who suffers epileptic seizures.
When that happens she falls to the floor and everyone is instructed to stop working in that area for the duration, and move away, sometimes up to an hour.
That whole part of the plant shuts down until she gets up.
Most employees think she’s faking it, but who wants to tread in that mire?
The public is saturated with depression messages on TV, radio, in school, etc.
Too many are going to fall into the trough because enablement is readily available.
I don't mean to mitigate the fact that some suffer from severe depression, but going on the meds is just WAY too easy these days.
Perhaps but it doesn’t take away from the fact that bi-polar disorder is a very real disease.
Just wait untill Obamacare gets that "database" going showing you have been on "mental medication".
Along with BATF and NCIC, IMHO, THAT will be the OTHER database checked to see if you are "OK" for that firearms purchase.
Nothing irritates me more than the idiots who think the whole world needs to suffer because they’re having a bad day. I didn’t even act that way as a factory foreman.
OTOH the drama queens who think the whole world needs to stop and fawn over them for the tragedy of the moment are pretty bad.
Yeah I was a real prick of a foreman.
However, the messaging of society exacerbates the problem tremendously IMO.
Too often people are led to think they have a "disease" because people around them consider them as abnormal largely because psychology teaches such. In actuality, a depressive period...even a severe one... is often a part of life which can be overcome which character development and is instead medicated for years on end.
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