Dealing with bipolar workers in the work place

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
Joined
Jan 17, 2005
Messages
52,146
Reaction score
8,340
Location
127.0.0.1
How do you do this? I know you are meant to be considerate to their condition but it creates massive mental and emotional strain on the rest of the staff.

I work with a bipolar person who also has a bipolar wife. So when ever there is drama (and its weekly) all of us get sucked into their illness. Staff are often emotionally abused and manipulated and everyone has to work extra hard to cover for the bipolar person when they have to take a day off every month for [INSERT LATEST DRAMA HERE]

We have tried to assist the person, even paying for meds and loaning the person money, but it never ends. When we confront them about it then all of a sudden its the whole world vs them, and its never their fault, its always the fault of the people around them.

One moment they are seriously nasty and abusive the next they act like you are their best friend. When you address them about been nasty, the basic line is they are bipolar. Deal with it, and if you dont deal with it, you are an inconsiderate bastard.

This is hurting us emotionally, mentally and financially. What should we do?
 
Last edited:
OrbitalDawn said:
Do they actually take their meds? If not, I'm wondering whether you can let them based on them creating a hostile work environment for everyone else?
Click to expand...

Its on an off a lot. And a constant changing of meds.

Theyve just had their 5th!!!!! child, and I know the wife has been off the meds during the pregnancy. Now that she is on maternity leave the dramas are more frequent. His wife works for the government and she took 9 months leave in the last year to deal with mental issues and pregnancies. Irony is, she is even going to still take her normal leave :/

Im not sure if we can let them go for creating a hostile environment. Could they not hold it against it that we are persecuting them because of their disability?
 
Honestly I think that being diagnosed gives a lot of people an excuse to act like a jackass and not be accountable. I know two people who were diagnosed with it, and their personalities changed almost over night. They acted like idiots around most people, but put them into a situation with a unsympathetic hard ass and all of a sudden they are able to tow the line. Use your discretion, but don't allow them to manipulate you- they are master manipulators and love using guilt, and yes it's never their fault. I must say after dealing with them I'm no longer sympathetic- hold him accountable, put the blame where it should be and he will eventually leave in a huff.
 
You need a clinical social worker in this situation. Can set expectations and teach coping skills to everyone involved.
 
AlmightyBender said:
You need a clinical social worker in this situation. Can set expectations and teach coping skills to everyone involved.
Click to expand...

So basically, the company has to pay more and people just need to learn to deal with it?
 
people with bipolar are nothing but selfish, manipulative people. everything is all about them. if they having a bad day then it's everyone else's fault. they wallow in self pity and i have absolutely no time for these people to be honest.

my daughter was in hospital and her friend (boy) came to visit her. my daughter had been in and out of hospital for 3 weeks with a serious condition, she even went in for surgery. so when visiting hours were over this boy supposedly faints in the lift and he calls for mt daughter. when i go visit again 3 - 4 she is nowhere to be found and i search frantically all over for her. eventually i find out he's in casualty with an oxygen mask on his face hanging on her and carrying on for himself. he started calling me over when i let out this almighty shriek that he is an inconsiderate prat and i don't want to see him round my daughter again. bloody hell it looked like he was about to peg it the way he was carrying on. i don't fall for their nonsense.
 
^ Please don't generalise people based on your isolated experiences.

I was one of those bastards I hate to admit, spent 1 month in a clinic where they educate you about the condition and how to manage it, then took them almost a year to get my meds (epilim) right and now I have no excuse, definitely get a clinical psychiatrist involved.
 
Last edited:
Worked with Bipolar and Asbergers before.
The rule for management is simple - we will acommodate you and support you, but this is a business first. If you cannot due to your condition meet agreed upon performance targets or become a distraction to others - then alternatives will have to be investigated. Sorry.

In two cases they could manage it without issue and I would gladly work with both of them again. In the other ... I didn't want to know then and I still don't want to know the factors around her resignation.
 
Last edited:
Yeah I was in the situation of having a bipolar girlfriend (who only went to seek help AFTER we broke up. Go figure :rolleyes:)

Anyway, there's this saying: Crazy people make sane people go crazy :D

Now before anyone bursts a tear duct, I am not saying bipolar people are crazy, just something that came to mind, and is quite fitting.
 
See what happens when you try be nice to ppl, they take advantage.
 
ghoti said:
How do you do this? I know you are meant to be considerate to their condition but it creates massive mental and emotional strain on the rest of the staff.

I work with a bipolar person who also has a bipolar wife. So when ever there is drama (and its weekly) all of us get sucked into their illness. Staff are often emotionally abused and manipulated and everyone has to work extra hard to cover for the bipolar person when they have to take a day off every month for [INSERT LATEST DRAMA HERE]

We have tried to assist the person, even paying for meds and loaning the person money, but it never ends. When we confront them about it then all of a sudden its the whole world vs them, and its never their fault, its always the fault of the people around them.

One moment they are seriously nasty and abusive the next they act like you are their best friend. When you address them about been nasty, the basic line is they are bipolar. Deal with it, and if you dont deal with it, you are an inconsiderate bastard.

This is hurting us emotionally, mentally and financially. What should we do?
Click to expand...

I have found there are two types of people, those who really have bipolar and get the job done, quietly they're dying inside. Then you get those that somehow got themselves diagnosed by a quack and are disruptive and manipulate people.

The latter usually drive the former out of a job. I have also had to work with people who have ADHD and have had to deal with them cutting me off all the time while I was trying to talk
 
Koosi said:
I have also had to work with people who have ADHD and have had to deal with them cutting me off all the time while I was trying to talk
Click to expand...

ADHD people dont cause the amount of harm to us that bipolar people do. We have a couple of ADHD people here and they all do their jobs well. Theyre not mean and manipulative and they dont create hostile environments. I have no problem working in general with ADHD or OCD people.
 
Well wait until you meet this one... he p***es me off regularly. He might not be mean or manipulative but he is pushy, pushes agendas and tries to overrule my engineering decisions.
 
Koosi said:
Well wait until you meet this one... he p***es me off regularly. He might not be mean or manipulative but he is pushy, pushes agendas and tries to overrule my engineering decisions.
Click to expand...

Okay, not really useful to my concerns for my business (as per the OP). OCD people and ADHD people dont negatively impact our working environment. More often, I find the OCD people very useful for long repetitive tasks (they also make awesome devs) and I find the ADHD people good with people and problem solving. Im sure you get exceptions to that, but we havent had them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X