Here's a bipolar article for you - I don't agree with it, But here ya go-------

I am going to assume that nobody has MSN.com for a homepage, and therefore doesn't see things like this - articles about Bipolar.

I submit this article as written (by a pompous windbag) with considerable handle on the language, but as a lay-person (that's what I would be) giving it the quick perusal, I deem it a load of crap. I don't really think he knows what he is talking about, and being about to write like you do know something (as professors are oh, so prone to) does not mean you know something.

Maybe there are people out there that this totally applies to. It doesn't apply to me but maybe it's going to be just the ticket for someone out there.

For instance, when he gives examples of over-generalizations that 'bipolars are prone to' I'm waiting for something that applies to me. Something about ranting or the need to do it, for instance, or some recognition that we are all not squalling babies with no control over ourselves, and in fact, some of us (ME) kept almost nearly all jobs I ever had, and keeping my deal a SECRET from EVERYONE was of the utmost priority - and by God, I did that. Leaving was my choice. Am I a fkn savant, a brilliant individual, or just a normal mentally ill person? Come on.

If there is a human being, with or without diagnosis, that is either High or Low, and is not in fact suffering to understand ALL the f'n in betweens (having absolutely nothing to do with 'hypomania' - just life, reality) - a person that follows this bizarre, fit into this up/down pigeonhole, I want to meet them. That is utterly ridiculous and why its so hard to diagnose a non-pyschotic bipolar - so hard to tack the emotions down, DUH!!! Idiot.

Further this guy doesn't provide anything that's going to get me back into the work world any time soon. I already take a shit load of meds and my therapist is useless. If that isn't a reason to take my computer and throw it, take a gun and start shooting random, drink a whole lot and enjoy it, then I DON"T KNOW WHAT IS. As it is, I'm in perfect control of myself and wouldn't think of lifting my computer or do anything that would cause me to reload.

So either the rest of you bipolars are pathetic and need to suck some of this pablum or this guy needs to meet a real bipolar.

Either way, I'm allowing his drivel to be wasted here, because I know you REALLY want to read it now.

Holding Down a Job—With Bipolar
How to stay employed when you have bipolar disorder.
By Nando Pelusi for MSN Health & Fitness
Q: I have a 23-year-old bipolar daughter who seems incapable of holding a job. She has had 16 jobs and has been fired from all of them. Is there anything I can do to help?
A: There may be many reasons why your daughter could be having trouble holding a job, and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder might give us a clue as to how to help her. Just like unipolar depression, bipolar disorder brings emotional and practical problems to overcome. I presume that she is currently under some professional care for medication, which stabilizes the emotional swings to a functional degree. Let’s help her weave together a philosophy about bipolar depression that allows her to weather the emotional storms with minimal stress to herself.
Many people with bipolar disorder hold down jobs, although they may suffer emotionally. Some also work very hard to monitor their thoughts and moods. People with bipolar use a type of thinking known as overgeneralization. Overgeneralizations are ideas that propound a form of thinking that is absolute and unrelenting—ideas that are fixed in either an overly negative or overly grandiose direction. Thus, the person with bipolar may experience two distinct moods—very up or very down. This kind of thinking—“Poor me, I’m always left behind,” or, “No one cares for me, therefore I’m worthless”—keeps your daughter vulnerable, wounded, and hurt. It is hard to buck up against the onslaught of these negative ideas.
Appropriate medication and psychotherapy are a key part of treatment. And while the physiology of BPD requires stabilization, so do some of the over-generalizing thoughts that accompany episodes of upset. These include:
“This is too hard—I have no control.”
“Poor me—I can’t stand this unfairness.”
“It’s easier for me to escape then to stay and work this out.”
“I need relief now—and if I don’t see a way out there is none.”
“I need constant reassurance of caring from others.”
“Not feeling understood is intolerable.”
Other triggers for episodes are seasonal changes, sleep disruption, and interpersonal conflict. As we seek to control the physiology, we also seek to control the psychology, the beliefs about herself, others, the world and the future.
A good approach would focus on managing your daughter’s ideational triggers. By getting her to recognize the external and internal triggers for her upset, we can then focus on some goals:
Accepting her condition of having an illness and not blaming herself for having bipolar disorder. Having this emotional condition is largely chemical and physiological, with a cognitive component. She is not responsible for having this illness, but she is responsible for taking care of herself and treating it. Learn what helps her feel better and to look forward to it, whether it be music, a movie, getting together with a trusted friend. Practice the coping statements that would counteract the over-generalized ideation mentioned earlier. For example, she could practice reminding herself that although this is hard, she has weathered it before—and can learn to tolerate it better.
As her emotions stabilize with a combination of medication and good cognitive restructuring, her chances of enjoying her life more and more—and holding down a good job—improve dramatically.