Creating a Reasonable Accommodations Plan
Planning is a big part of managing bipolar disorder, from scheduling your days and developing a routine to creating a crisis plan that prepares others help you in your time of need. I resumed therapy last month. Nothing new occurred to prompt this. Instead, I have been trying to find practical ways to manage anxiety and to ground myself. I’ve been to therapy for help with this before, but this time the anxiety management and grounding techniques I am seeking are directly related to having experienced psychosis. Once someone loses touch with reality, it can be a struggle to live in and view the world as it really is again.
One anxiety-provoking situation that I mentioned to my therapist is that when I am at work and I see the emergency medical technicians who came to my house when I was in crisis and transported me to the hospital, I am overcome with anxiety. We discussed why that was and how to deal. Another thing my therapist asked me to consider during that session was developing a reasonable accommodations plan for work. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, most employers are required to make “reasonable accommodations” for certain health conditions, including mental health conditions.
I’d never considered this before that therapy session. To me, it is easier to think of ways to accommodate people with physical health conditions than people with mental health conditions. To add another layer of complexity, I work with patients in a hospital setting, so the obvious work from home request is not an option for me.
Being tasked with this new assignment took me back to my PhD student days. I remember expressing concern then about how overworked I was given that my graduate research assistantship was with a health policy center that had a laundry list of data to analyze, deliverables to produce, meetings to attend, conferences to present at, etc. I was drowning in the work on top of my doctoral studies. Eventually, I lost my battle with stress.
The fist psychologist I ever saw was following the first psychotic episode I experienced while in that graduate program. She seemed deeply concerned about me as a whole person. While in my manic state, I wasn’t eating enough, so I was underweight. It would later get to the point that I did not look like myself anymore. Among other things, she mentioned to me packing healthy snacks to carry with me as I went out about my busy day (yet another helpful way to plan when you have bipolar disorder).
As I continue to think through what reasonable accommodations look like for me, I will reflect on my past experiences and struggles while I was manic and even while I was depressed. I think that for me some sort of consistency, routine, and structure will prove to be beneficial.
