Psychological disorders, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and so on, affect

people's personal and professional lives. These disorders often have an impact not

only on the individual's well-being, but also on their relationships, work performance

and overall functioning. Understanding these conditions and providing appropriate

support and adjustments at work are essential for an inclusive and productive

workplace.

First of all, schizophrenia is a mental illness with symptoms such as loss of

contact with reality, hallucinations and delusions, and disorganized speech and

behavior (De Sousa & Lodha, 2019, p. 2). The individual suffering from

schizophrenia may also experience loss of motivation, loss of interest in previously

pleasurable activities, blunted affect and instability in expressed attitudes and

emotions. Because of this symptom, most people with this diagnosis have difficulties

in their lives. In the work environment, cognitive deficits in schizophrenia lead to

problems in planning and organizing work, remembering tasks, socializing with

colleagues and focusing on goals. As the degree of schizophrenia increases, the

problems the individual will experience at work will increase in direct proportion. This

threatens the job security of the individual and negatively affects the overall

productivity of the organization. This signals the beginning of problems within the

organization, both with the person's leader and with teammates. The human

resources team at the workplace of the individual with this symptom has a lot of work

to do because they have the responsibility to ensure that the individual/employee

receives adequate on-the-job training, benefits from additional supportive training if

necessary, and that appropriate arrangements are made so that the individual can

adequately perform the job.These trainings, not only managing employees living with

schizophrenia, but also providing them with support in their work, informing their
teams. In my opinion, In the movie A Beautiful Mind, John Nash, a mathematician at

Princeton University, suffers from schizophrenia and, over time, cannot distinguish

the difference between reality and fantasy while struggling with hallucinations and

delusions. Due to the symptoms of the disease, his work efficiency decreases, his

colleagues at work exclude him due to his inconsistent behavior, and he is fired from

his job because he cannot show stability. In fact, as we see in this example, people's

awareness is very low, they do not know about this disorder before knowing how to

support it, and this scares them. Since they don't know, they find the solution either

by looking in the wrong places or by excluding it. As we saw in the movie, with the

love and support of Nash's wife, the professional help he received, and the

awareness of the people around him, he began to be understood and succeed in an

inclusive and accepting environment. On the other hand, schizophrenia is a difficult

disorder to live with the symptoms it brings, but from a positive psychology

perspective, people diagnosed with schizophrenia continue to manage their

symptoms and pursue their goals in daily life despite these difficulties. While keeping

these symptoms under control, at the same time, making sense or creating value

from these experiences will make the person feel functional. As an example, when I

was studying at Sabancı University, we used to organize an event called “Human

Library “ which is an activity where you can empathize by communicating with people

who are subjected to social exclusion due to prejudices every year. In this event, I

had the chance to listen to a person who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and

controlled his symptoms with treatments. He had prepared an exhibition to paint the

hallucinations he experienced during the attack period. The first thing I thought was

how meaningful it was, so that these drawings could be a guide for those who want

to empathize with what kind of world he lived in. In this way, while creating works
that can be interpreted by those who want to empathize with his drawings, he also

gives meaning and heals himself by expressing the emptiness within himself or the

situation he is experiencing with his art. Also, Thanks to the exhibition, he took a step

towards establishing meaningful relationships with other people.

Secondly, Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition characterized by

extreme mood swings. It includes emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows

(depression). Manic episodes may include increased energy, enthusiasm, impulsivity

and decreased need for sleep, while depressive episodes may include feelings of

sadness, hopelessness, fatigue and difficulty focusing. Daily functioning,

relationships and work performance can be significantly affected by these mood

swings. The severity and duration of these episodes can vary from person to person.

From my perspective,I couldn't imagine how big its dimensions and effects could be

at first. Behaviors during depression seemed controllable. While doing research on

this subject, I watched the episode "Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am" from the

series "Modern Love". In this episode of the series, we witness a section of the life of

a woman with bipolar disorder. We closely see her friendships, business life and

romantic life affected by this disorder. Our main character tries to hide her bipolar

disorder from everyone. While she is very productive, full of life and running for

success during her manic periods, she cannot get herself out of bed and cannot

continue her daily life and responsibilities during her depressive periods. Since she

cannot tell anyone about this situation, the man she is dating, her bosses and friends

cannot make sense of her sudden disappearance and not answering the phone.

When her performance during her manic period cannot compensate for her absence

during her depression, she is fired from her job and later when her old boss tells her

new close friend that she is bipolar, many things make sense in the boss's mind and
he supports her with a very supportive attitude. When I saw this, the first thing I

thought was, would someone in our country who said they were bipolar be this

supportive of their environment? I don't think the answer to this question was

positive. In our country, since everything we don't know scares us, instead of trying

to understand and learn, we tend to alienate and isolate them. In order not to be

subject to this alienation in our business lives, there may be a system that does not

tell us about this situation and interprets the depression period as a decrease in

performance and gives feedback accordingly, and tries to solve the problem in this

way. This behavior leads to a cycle where wrong solutions are produced by

misunderstanding the source of the problem. Organizing trainings about bipolar and

increasing awareness will cause people to act more empathetically and supportively.

On the other hand, I think that individuals can be quite successful in short-term

projects or jobs where they can arrange their own working hours with the increase in

their energy and productivity during the mania period. Of course, the frequency of

attacks/seizures is also quite critical here. At the same time, I think that people can

be quite original and successful in the artistic field with the increased creativity during

the mania period.

To sum up, Regardless of whether the diagnosis is bipolar or schizophrenia,

these disorders affect people's social and professional lives to a great extent. We

cannot find a solution by excluding, isolating and gossiping about these people.

While they are receiving appropriate treatments, we will support them by raising

awareness and learning about their experiences. We should provide flexibility and

support to improve their difficulties in business life. There are very few things that we

cannot achieve by understanding each other, supporting each other and establishing

meaningful relationships.
References

● De Sousa, A., & Lodha, P. (2019). Schizophrenia and the workplace. Indian

Journal of Mental Health, Volume(6), 1-4.

https://indianmentalhealth.com/pdf/2019/vol6-issue1/EDITORIAL

%20AVINASH%20LODHA.pdf

● Farrell, H. M. (2017, February). What is bipolar disorder? [Video]. TED-Ed.

https://www.ted.com/ted-ed

● Howard, R. (Director). (2001). A Beautiful Mind [Film]. Universal Pictures.

● Levinson, J. (Writer), & Sequeira, L. (Director). (2022, August 13). Take me as

I am, whoever I am (Season 2, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In Modern

Love. Amazon Prime Video. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K9M14Y5