Life Experience of Patients with Bipolar Disorder in the Workplace: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract Background: Bipolar disorder is a chronic and recurrent disorder that causes many problems in other areas of life such as communication, education, family life, work and social status, besides suffering. The purpose of the present study was to phenomenological investigating the experience of the lived experience of work problems in patients with bipolar mood disorder. Method: 48 bipolar patients were selected using available random sampling. In-depth semi-structured interview was used. Colaizzi thematic analysis method was used for data analysis. Results: work problems of bipolar patients included 14 subcategories that were classified into 3 main categories including: work problems related to symptoms of bipolar disorder (sulks, independence, Troublemaking, financial problems, poor work performance, problem with the opposite sex, disclosure of job secrets, Lack of privacy and interference with the work of others, the problem with authority), problems related to work atmosphere (feeling insecure at work, Lack of understanding symptoms of disorder at workplace, receiving stigma, not being employed and Part time work) and problems related to the nature of work (not challenging work). Conclusion: investigation of lived experience of bipolar patients in workplace suggests that due to the impaired nature of this disorder at work, miss diagnosis, over diagnosis or under diagnosis of the disorder and inadequate and poor effectiveness of psychiatric and psychological therapies so far, it seems better that direction of recovery and management of this disorder move towards rehabilitation approaches.