There is a common perception that the hypomanic phase of bipolar disorder type II does not impede one's ability to work, unlike the full-blown manic episodes that come with bipolar disorder type I. I believe that this is misleading. While it is true that hypomania is less severe than mania, the symptoms -- elevated mood, inflated optimism, distractibility, increased goal-oriented activity, racing thoughts, and impulsivity -- are the same. Hypomania may not have sent me to the hospital, but before I began treatment, hypomania made it almost impossible for me to work.

Do you know what learned helplessness is? Well, have you ever felt that no matter how hard you try to achieve a goal, the outcome is totally out of your hands because, in the past, your efforts to do the same proved to be futile? Does this feeling make you feel stuck and powerless, and does it cause you to stop trying in the first place? If your answer is yes, you probably have a case of learned helplessness.

When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, one of my biggest work confidence fears was that I would never achieve my career goals. I had graduated from college exactly two years before, and although I had excelled academically, I had a very difficult time finding and keeping work in the post-graduate world: I struggled to stay on task and complete projects by the deadline, and I could not make it through a single team meeting without fidgeting.

Looking for a job has never been easy, and job search depression is on the rise. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has now become all the more difficult to secure a stable job. As a freelance writer, uncertainty is something I am used to, even if it is on a smaller scale. Here are some of my tried and tested tips on how to handle the intense emotional rollercoaster known as the job hunt.

What time management tips might help someone with bipolar disorder work from home more efficiently? Read on for four great hints on being more productive while working from home with bipolar disorder.

Since last month, many of us have been working remotely from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this has proven that many jobs can be done remotely, there's one major mental health issue that office-goers are facing today: depression.

I’m Nori Rose Hubert, and I’m so excited to contribute to the "Work and Bipolar or Depression" blog at HealthyPlace. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder type II in May 2019 at age 26, after a lifetime of struggling with my mental health. Although our culture’s attitude towards mental illness is slowly changing for the better, mood disorders such as bipolar disorder remain highly stigmatized. I write about bipolar because I want others living with this disease to know they are not alone and that mental illness recovery is possible.

Coronavirus isolation is new, but here's the thing: coronavirus has made our planet its home for a while now. Although it showed up in December 2019, it is only in the month of March that we have decided to take it seriously. To contain the virus, many countries have prohibited people from leaving their homes and asked them to practice social distancing instead. This has naturally taken on a toll on the mental health of extroverts and ambiverts. And over time, it will affect introverts too (if it hasn't already). I speak from experience because I am an introvert whose depression has already worsened due to coronavirus isolation. Let me elaborate.

Battling daily depression takes a lot out of you, and going by my last few posts, you may feel that depression is debilitating to such an extent that, generally speaking, someone who has it cannot have a successful career. While it is true that depression does impair one's ability to be productive at work, this does not mean that nothing can be done about it. Like most things in life, there are certain hacks you can use to increase your mental and physical energy levels, improve your stress tolerance, etc. so that you can positively thrive at work even with daily depression.

I have been struggling to function throughout the day -- from waking up to eating on time, everything seems like an arduous chore. I turned to Google for an answer and it seems like I have something called "low-functioning depression." Now I had heard of the term "high-functioning depression," but never this term. After further browsing, it then dawned on me that low-functioning depression wasn't an anomaly, it just wasn't talked about nearly half as much as high-functioning depression. I wondered how many depressed people must feel inadequate because they are not high-functioning, so I decided to write a post about low-functioning depression.