Will I be fired if I am diagnosed with a mental disorder ?
It has gotten worse lately ... I always lose interest in the task after around 80% of completion and have not delivered even one project in the last year. However I do tasks like small bug fixes, reviews and random things ... just cant seem to complete big tasks. I started having anxiety and feel stressed because I am not able to get work done which in turn is causing more stress. I feel (atleast couple of days a week) I will be fired but everyone seems to bear me. I have always had difficulties concentrating but it got worse recently. I either am extremely focused and forget other things like meetings, lunch etc or keep switching between my browser tabs and slack. I am thinking about seeing a doctor. Should I report to my manager about this? What are my options? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
++ on MD. That part is very important. Their signature is the difference maker.
Social workers train MDs in MD school.
Sorry to hear that. I was in the same boat and struggled with the problem for years. Turns out I was diagnosed with ADD and the medication helped A LOT. Over time I decided I didn't want to take that medicine forever so I ended up finding a role where I was working as some sort of internal consultant for my company. I would only get involved in projects during the research/design phase and the initial months of implementation. Sometimes I work on 2-3 projects at the same time! It worked perfectly for me. Good luck!
What’s that position called? Can you give more details? Thx.
That sounds amazing. I will look for roles like this.
As stated above, you would be protected by the EEOC / DOL under the ADAAA. It would constitute wrongful termination to base this solely on your MH, save for sensitive positions impacted by this change.
Be wary of doctors, too. I 'don't think like everyone else' & can have attention issues. I finally decided to play around with adhd meds in my 40's- i always avoided then & just came up with a lot of rules/coping mechanisms. It was more of an experiment, and I easily got a script for a low dose But I moved, and first new prescribing doc barely looked at me for 5 min & said 'you're bipolar & here is an anti-psychotic script' along with low dose Adderall script. Wtf!?! I might have not minded toying with speed (makes everyone better); but I make tons on $$ with my brain, so I just shut up and walked out of the place. I'm very high functioning, and really don't want to disturb whatever magic makes the ideas flow in my head. I have a talk-therapist, but there are a lot of docs out there that don't mind 'fixing' you with pills. If you need it to keep your job, do it; but always be very skeptical of any doc and make sure you agree with any treatment path!!! I stopped playing with Adderall and the like after a few months. I refused to take it if I hadn't slept 8 hours before (didn't want it as a bandaid for low sleep); and got bad headaches anyway
Thanks! I will keep this in mind before committing to any medications. I would rather not mess with my already messy mind ! So, the most important thing here is to get in touch with a good doctor .
You cannot get into trouble for it. Even big things like sucide attempts cannot get you in trouble. Go to the doctor or whatever you think is necessary but don't expect them to have some magic bullet to make everything better instantly.
See a psychologist, and a therapist.
I am not doctor!! Are you new grad? Do you eat properly? Do you have balanced diet everyday? Do you eat enough green vegetables? Have you done blood check recently? Check your Vitamin B12 levels, how often you exercise?
I try to eat healthy and workout ... but I cant seem to do long term. I focus on it extremely like for 1-2 months and the moment I start to see any difference I lose interest and I fall back to bad lifestyle ... the cycle repeats. The longest was 3 months where I almost reached my goals (weight/body fat %/strength) but never reached them.
Okay, I feel, you are just stressed and you need to spend some time relaxed, away from work. I was in similar situation and was in constant stress, I took one month break and was back on track. I also recommend doing blood check with proper advise from doctor, sometime you just need some missing ingredients eg. Multivitamin tablet, whatever comes out. You will be fine, just try preventive care and seek help from good doctor.
Bare in mind different things work for different people. I typically need a small dose of meds. My boss drinks 24 cups of coffee a day ( has done so for past 26 years). Try new things and see what works ( I do not suggest starting out with +20 cups of coffee FYI)
24 cups of coffee!! How can your boss even stay calm ? I get jittery if I have anything more than a cup in 6 hours.
See a Dr/Therapist but don't assume the worst. Stress can make your attention span slip and it sounds like you're in a vicious cycle getting stressed about your attention span. It sounds like you're more conscientious than most people if you are getting stressed about not finishing projects. If you are so worried it is stressing you out, if your boss is a decent person talk to them. That's a big IF though. Maybe tell them you're speaking to a Dr because you're having issues concentrating on finishing big projects but are fine with smaller ones - most people don't like bug fixing so they may welcome you doing that for a while. Make sure you are doing physical exercise and sleeping well, steer clear of alcohol and drugs. Make sure you have interests outside of work. Try not to worry too much. It will get better!
Thank you! I will think about talking to my boss.
Nice you diagnosed it yourself and are trying to do something about it. You should certainly see a doctor first and find if this is such a big issue or not. Similar issue is with me. I skip mails meetings lunch when I am concentrating. And other times I do simple work like you said, bug fixes, follow ups. But I think it's very normal, we never can be at best potential all the time and all kind of work is necessary. One suggestion could be to train yourself. Use your extremely focused quality and build really strong products. And for other phase keep light work for that. It was a problem for me initially but later on I found it better than rest of normal performers and my manager supports me too for my respective schedules. So, don't think it's a disorder. Might be it's your strength. Just use it in right way. :) Just see a doctor to be very sure if it is a disorder or not. Good luck!!!
Thanks a lot for the kind words. I will get doctors opinion soon.