Bipolar disorder is a long-term mental disorder that is characterised by unusual mood swings. It involves episodes of depression, hypomania and mania or mixed illness episodes, and periods with few or no symptoms. Mania means a stage where a person is hyperactive, energetic and restless, talks a lot and the need of sleep is decreased. The person does not recognise their condition themselves, and in the manic phase, they may make decisions that lead to problems.
Bipolar disorder is usually diagnosed during late adolescence , but it can develop at any age. The incidence of bipolar disorder is around 1% of people.
Bipolar disorder affects work ability
Bipolar disorder may be accompanied by difficulty in processing information, such as remembering and learning new things. This should be taken into account when evaluating the person’s work ability.
Sick leave depends on the stage of the illness
Most people with bipolar disorder receive sickness allowance or cash rehabilitation benefit at some point in their working life. Patients with a good treatment balance are able to work or participate in vocational rehabilitation. Due to the illness, however, it is recommended that the work is regular daytime work and that the stress levels remain reasonable.
The severity of the current illness phase impacts on whether sick leave is required and if so, for how long. Mild depression and hypomania seldom cause disability, whereas in moderate depression, the nature of the work and the motivation determine whether a sick leave is necessary. Hypomania can seemingly even improve work performance, but this will be at the expense of the person’s resources, which will dwindle. All patients with mania and psychotic depression and almost all patients with severe depression are unable to work.
Whether a person needs to be absent from work and for how long is also affected by
- the person’s functional capacity
- the requirements of the work
- the workplace’s ability to carry out necessary support measures or work arrangements.